GitHub authentication failing over https, returning wrong email address

Question

Initiating a push or any other action with GitHub from the command line (over https, not ssh) that calls for the username and password not only fails but, when it does, it returns

Username for 'https://github.com': username
Password for 'https://username@github.com': 
remote: Invalid username or password.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/username/repository.git/'

I do not have an @github.com address. The password and username are correct.

I know I could switch to SSH and use keys but that doesn't answer why the authentication is failing over https.

Documentation **http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-on-the-Server-Generating-Your-SSH-Public-Key** git-config - Get and set repository or global options **http://git-scm.com/docs/git-config** — John Smith, Jan 03 '14 at 22:50

score 177 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 27 '14 at 06:31

177

GitHub's support determined the root of the issue right away: Two-factor authorization.

To use GitHub over the shell with https, create an OAuth token. As the page notes, I did have to remove my username and password credentials from Keychain but with osx-keychain in place, the token is stored as the password and things work exactly as they would over https without two-factor authorization in place.

answered Jan 27 '14 at 06:31

ele

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+1. You also can use a PAT (Personal Access Token) in an encrypted netrc: http://stackoverflow.com/a/18607931/6309 – VonC Jan 27 '14 at 06:33
What is the difference between a PAT and an OAuth? – lindhe Oct 20 '14 at 17:30
@lindhe OAuth token is a type of token, a the PAT is an OAauth token in this case. – Kerry Jones Jun 06 '17 at 23:52
Why isn't there a message about this instead of the false authentication error? How the heck would I know this – pabrams Jul 31 '21 at 08:11

VonC · Answer 2 · 2022-04-18T06:27:16.357

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I do not have an @github.com address

You don't have to: the @ is the separator between the username:password and the domain.
It is not an email address.

A full GitHub https url would be:

# 2014:
https://username:password@github.com/username/reponame.git

# 2021+:
https://username:token@github.com/username/reponame.git

Without the token (which would then be asked on the command line), that would give:

https://username@github.com/username/reponame.git

But again, username@github.com isn't an email address, just the first part of the credentials.

Make sure the case of your username and reponame is correct: it is case-sensitive.

Since Aug. 2021, GitHub no longer accept account passwords when authenticating Git operations on GitHub.com.
Only PAT (Personal Access Token)

Note that you can store and encrypt your credentials in:

2014: a .netrc.gpg (or _netrc.gpg on Windows) if you don't want to put said credentials in clear in the URL.
See "Is there a way to skip password typing when using https://github".
2021+: a credential helper called manager-core, using the Microsoft cross-platform GCM (Git Credential Manager)

edited Apr 18 '22 at 06:27

answered Jan 03 '14 at 23:06

VonC

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You can also leave the password out, typing the password every time. In that case it would be `https://username@github.com/username/reponame.git`. – Mark Hildreth Jan 03 '14 at 23:13
Oh, that make sense. Thank you. I knew about the case sensitivity and I am confident that the username and password I'm providing are correct. (They work fine to sign into the website.)a – ele Jan 04 '14 at 00:41
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@ele yes, but does your password include special characters (like `! * ' ( ) ; : @ & = + $ , / ? # [ ]`)? They would need to be "percent-encoded" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding). – VonC Jan 04 '14 at 00:44
The password is alphanumeric. I'll see what 'git remote -v' gives when I'm next at the machine but sounds like I might need to contact GitHub support next. – ele Jan 04 '14 at 03:08
@ele try the .netrc approach first (don't even encrypt, just for testing). If that doesn't work, the GitHub support is indeed the next step. – VonC Jan 04 '14 at 06:47

score 21 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 26 '18 at 19:09

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Go to Credential Manager => Windows Manager
Delete everything related to tfs
Now click on Add a generic credential and provide the following values

(1) Internet or network adress: git:https://tfs.donamain name (2) username: your username (3) password: your password

this should fix it

answered Jun 26 '18 at 19:09

Jemil Oyebisi

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wow. I love how it stores the incorrect password if you type it in wrong. Then you have to go manually update it or delete it – Kellen Stuart Nov 30 '18 at 20:01

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 22 '15 at 23:01

10

It may happen in Windows if you stored a different credentials before. Go to Credential Manager and delete stored github credentials

answered Oct 22 '15 at 23:01

Random

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It is also possible to directly edit the password in the Windows Credential Manager to the new password. – Spenhouet Sep 17 '18 at 09:10

score 10 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 27 '18 at 10:09

10

Same thing happened with me, when i have enabled 2-way authentication for github. Things i did to resolve:

Get you personal access token. This you have to check and generate if not available already. Link for this: https://github.com/settings/tokens
Go to your local and delete folder and re-clone branch from github.
Now try the command you were trying earlier i.e: git pull origin master
Enter username and In password paste the token generated and also don't forget to save that token somewhere, so you can re-use if required.

Doing this will solve your issue.

answered Feb 27 '18 at 10:09

palak

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Good callout - this was happening to me on mac => [had to regenerate my PAT](https://help.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token-for-the-command-line) – SliverNinja - MSFT Nov 14 '19 at 23:00
We have to generate the token if we need to permissions not present in previous generated tokens. Also if we have lost our previous token, we can generate this new token and use as a password to authenticate instead of our original git password. – Mohd Belal May 11 '20 at 21:21

score 9 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 28 '15 at 15:19

9

[Mac only]

If you need to delete your authentication, use

git credential-osxkeychain erase
host=github.com
protocol=https

on Mac.

See https://help.github.com/articles/updating-credentials-from-the-osx-keychain/

answered Sep 28 '15 at 15:19

Dan Rosenstark

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score 6 · Answer 7 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

6

Just incase this helps anyone else also, I was signed into the mac app, command line working fine, but because I then turned on 2FA, my commands were returning the error. I had to sign out of the app, then I could use my Personal access token in my commands as per ele's answer here.

Hopefully that helps someone!

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

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answered Nov 21 '15 at 14:06

Joel Balmer

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 18 '22 at 03:47

Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens to generate your tokens
Generate your token and store it safely
Now try to push your code to github
Two times you have to give your credentials. First time provide your gmail and password and second time provide your username and the generated token instead of password(at the password field).
another thing is , if you go to your github profile then you will find your username at the url

It works for me , hoping it will save your time . Best wishes .

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 21 '22 at 03:30

For mac and windows Go to Github token generator
- Generate the token and copy it
Then in Terminal navigate to folder and perform git push
It will ask for username and password, Put personal access token in password

Note - If push does not happen use git push --force

score -2 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 18 '16 at 23:38

-2

On Windows, you may be silently blocked by your Antivirus or Windows firewall. Temporarily turn off those services and push/pull from remote origin.

answered Oct 18 '16 at 23:38

Vortex

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GitHub authentication failing over https, returning wrong email address

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