How do I change the default location for Git Bash on Windows?

Question

I am using Git on Windows 7 and access my repositories through Git Bash. How can I change the default location that Git Bash opens in a convenient folder when I start it?

It's somewhat time consuming to navigate to htdocs, and then a specific folder. Is there a way to change the configuration file to have it open elsewhere? Or would it be possible to write a .sh file to do this?

Unfortunately Git Bash won't open my htdocs folder shortcut on my desktop, and it takes using cd 5 times to get to my desired directory.

Related: [How to change folder with git bash?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/8961334/3357935) — Stevoisiak, May 07 '18 at 15:25

score 269 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 17 '23 at 18:52

269

The easiest way without installing msysgit is right click on the Git Bash shortcut icon → Start in: → "C:\Program Files (x86)".

Change the Start in entry and point out the Git Bash starting position. If you don't remove the --cd-to-home part from the Target box, the Start in change gets overridden.

Alternate Option:

If you don't have the shortcut and installed in the default location, open up a file explorer and paste in the search path field:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Git

That will take you to the Git shortcuts location

Right click on 'Git Bash'
Click 'Properties'
Navigate to 'Shortcut' pivot
As others have said, in Target remove: --cd-to-home
Update Start in row to C:\Program Files (x86) or for me it was
- C:\Users\<username>\Desktop\Sites
Apply as Administrator

Good to go

edited Aug 17 '23 at 18:52

Roger Perez

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answered May 18 '12 at 11:56

Mohammad Arif

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I found yours and Marcin's solution were the same, but for me, your instructions were more precise and to the point. Thanks! – Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010 Dec 23 '14 at 19:53
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Thanks for the tip to remove the `--cd-to-home` argument. – chrisjleu Jan 18 '16 at 09:16
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@ShirishHerwade I had to unpin from taskbar and pin it again to make it work. – henrikmerlander Nov 01 '16 at 15:35
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Still the most helpful solution in 2020 – John Targaryen May 10 '20 at 08:26
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"Change the Start in entry and point out the Git Bash starting position." What does that mean? Can someone provide an example value to use? – Bob Horn Jun 12 '20 at 17:26
The accepted answer should have an edit to remove that --cd-to-home from the target part. – Mr.Drew May 19 '21 at 06:29
this did not work for me in the pinned git bash unless, only when the result was from a Windows search for git bash. I tried to unpin and pin it again and it was still not working. I needed to use the .bashrc solution below. – pdb Aug 21 '23 at 21:20

score 250 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:52

250

After installing msysgit I have the Git Bash here option in the context menu in Windows Explorer. So I just simply navigate to the directory and then open Bash right there.

I also copied the default Git Bash shortcut to the desktop and edited its Start in property to point to my project directory. It works flawlessly.

Windows 7x64, msysgit.

edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:52

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 06 '11 at 07:49

Marcin Gil

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I think the `Start in` part is what he's most interested in - if you're using the windows shell (`cmd.exe`), you can also turn on `QuickEdit mode` through the same properties dialog to make copy/paste a *bit* easier and set the window size/buffer/font properties and such... – johnny Oct 06 '11 at 12:36
2

I don't have this `Git Bash Here` option. How do I do it then? – ptamzz Feb 23 '12 at 20:15
@ptamzz "I also copied default Git Bash shortcut to desktop and edited its Start in property to point to my project directory." – Bulwersator Mar 24 '13 at 11:45
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To get to `Git Bash`'s `Start in` property, Right-Click your Git Bask shortcut icon and click "Properties". Then find and paste in the `Start in` field the path you'd like to start in. It will look something like: `C:\Users\DM\Desktop\YourFolder` – Mikeumus Jun 03 '13 at 05:15
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I went the way Mikeumus says editing the start in property. I then started gitbash and pinned it in taskbar. It now opens to the desired location from the taskbar too. – T M Mar 11 '16 at 21:12
@Mikeumus `Start In` Doesn't seem to do it for me, it keeps starting in `users/user` am i missing something else here? – Jay Jan 10 '17 at 12:40
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Right `cd-to-home` was overriding my `start in` value. all sorted now. – Jay Jan 10 '17 at 12:43
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For `Start in` value, I use `%USERPROFILE%/Git` where `Git` is a directory under my home directory e.g. `C:\users\rami\Git` – Rami Alloush Aug 13 '18 at 22:32
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One thing that has been skipped in this answer is that you should remove the `--cd-to-home` part at the end of `Target` field value. – Shahroq Aug 23 '19 at 17:40
will this work if my directory not from C:\ but from D:\ Do I need to restart system after changing the startIn path, I have removed --cd-to-home from target but still not opening git bash from my path – Siluveru Kiran Kumar Aug 28 '19 at 12:54
Every time you update `Git Bash` a new shortcut will be automatically created and you have to repeat this process from scratch. To avoid this, see `@smilyface`'s answer. – Mar 10 '21 at 22:10
Yes, it works, but ONLY if you remove `--cd-to-home` like mentioned in the solution below which should get way more credit for that important hint in my opinion... – Simon Ferndriger May 27 '21 at 13:09

score 185 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 17:04

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Add this line to your .bashrc file:

cd C:/xampp/htdocs/<name of your project>;

If the .bashrc file doesn't exist, create one in your root folder. For me it is: C:\Users\tapas\

Save .bashrc and open Git Bash. That's it!

edited Jul 21 '17 at 17:04

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 21 '14 at 07:00

soundswaste

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This is the correct answer! And if `.bashrc` was not there, just create it in `~` (cd ~ && touch .bashrc) – Jad Joubran Apr 25 '15 at 20:08
This `.bashrc` approach is a handy solution if you want to put the console into `/c/whatever` and can't put `/c/whatever` into the `Start in` properties setting as other answers suggested. The `/c/whatever` path only seems to work in newer versions of gitbash. – alexkb Feb 16 '16 at 05:30
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I found `bash.bashrc` in `Git\etc` folder – Gondil Feb 29 '16 at 19:17
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I found this solution good but it doesn't play well with custom shortcuts or the `Git Bash here` options described by other answers. I solved it by adding a conditional so it only runs when in the home folder. `if [[ $(pwd) = $HOME ]]; then cd fi` – Forss Mar 09 '16 at 15:30
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Thanks @Forss! That wrapper is a crazy good idea. Don't forget the semicolon after the location! – Travis Watson Oct 04 '16 at 12:41
Thanks @peter-mortensen &soundswaste, helped me tremendously. I just added the that line at the very end of the brashrc file, worked great! – A B Sep 22 '17 at 00:51
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Note: You may need to use vi in Git Bash itself to create the file, Windows was getting annoyed that I tried to rename a file with no "name", just an "extension" – romeara Feb 27 '18 at 02:37
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Forss's tip is great, but has a syntax error, as pointed out by @Travis Watson. It should be `if [[ $(pwd) = $HOME ]]; then cd ; fi` – Stephen Hosking Nov 13 '20 at 00:29
Good solution but if you're using Git Bash as terminal for VS Code now when opening terminal in VS code it wont default to the project's repo anymore – ihor.eth Dec 23 '20 at 20:46
this was the cleanest solution – Winston Fale Jan 24 '22 at 04:06
In windows, I had to add this in ~/.bash_profile – Seeker Apr 12 '23 at 06:59

score 29 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 05 '18 at 09:28

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I read it somewhere and it worked for me.

First check in git bash what is the HOME location. Open git bash and run

echo $HOME

Now change the HOME path by opening cmd and run

setx HOME "path/to/.ssh/loc" (I gave C:\Users\aXXXX)

Now cross check by running the echo command in git bash.

answered Jun 05 '18 at 09:28

Chinmoy

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I think this is a very good answer, especially if your company has a network mapped home directory which you do *not* want to use (ie. for performance reasons) – Merijn Vogel Apr 01 '19 at 09:35
will this HOME path changing will affect only git bash or total system command prompt? – Siluveru Kiran Kumar Sep 14 '19 at 15:18
Excellent solution, fixed a severe slowness I had with Git Bash with my P: drive on a slow remote drive over VPN. I find it strange, however, how I can use this solution for `HOME` but not for `HOMEDRIVE` and `HOMEPATH` - I cannot change where `cmd` launches with this solution. But no matter, Git Bash is what was affected and it's now working properly again. – joanis Jun 23 '20 at 15:39
Note that this solution also changes where Git Bash looks for your dotfiles, which solved my problem, but might not be the right solution for other situations, and probably would not have been what OP wanted. – joanis Jun 23 '20 at 16:11
This solution broke Git-Bash for me, I can no longer open the program – seeker_after_truth Jul 01 '20 at 11:48
You might have to specify the new path as `"/c/YourNewFolder/"` instead of `"C:\YourNewFolder"` – yuskam Feb 09 '23 at 08:49

score 26 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 06 '19 at 13:41

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Windows 10 tested solution

Type git bash in search
Right click on it and choose open file location
Right click on it and choose properties
At target remove --cd-to-home from "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" --cd-to-home
At start in put the path of the directory you want it to start at for example Start in: C:\xampp\htdocs

answered Jun 06 '19 at 13:41

Professor Chaos

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**I did this but still same as previous, will this work if start in was in the local disk D:\ any info.** – Siluveru Kiran Kumar Sep 14 '19 at 15:15

score 24 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 15 '15 at 17:08

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Open the properties of the bash and change to "Start in" to where you want to start in. After this, (I had this problem and I solved it by doing this) go to target and delete the --cd-to-home parameter part after "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" . Only THEN will you start in the "Start in" directory that you specified.

answered Oct 15 '15 at 17:08

Vladimir Despotovic

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Vladimir, deleting the --cd-to-home parameter part after "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" is an important detail. Thanks. – vlmercado Oct 18 '15 at 00:58
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Alert!..life saver :) – RyanDotnet Oct 04 '21 at 07:01

score 18 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:53

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If you're like me, and the way you get to Git is windows key + G + I + Enter, then you can simply hit the windows key, search for Git, right click on the resulting Git Bash icon, select properties, and change the Start in: field.

I'm not exactly sure what this does, because I'm not exactly sure what Git on Windows is (a facade on top of sh which itself is a facade on cmd?), but in any case, you can now pin the shortcut that Windows pulls up on a search for "Git" to your taskbar, or to your desktop, and it will still start in whatever directory you set it to.

edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:53

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 02 '12 at 02:10

Groostav

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So that is why it did't work. I forgot to update the pinned shortcut in my taskbar. Your "now pin (...)" did ring the bell :) – Jelmer Jul 01 '13 at 12:52

score 13 · Answer 8 · answered May 22 '21 at 14:43

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1/ Go to Properties of Git Bash

2/ Change Start in: to your the directory of your choi

3/ Delete --cd-to-home

4/ Restart Git Bash

answered May 22 '21 at 14:43

Thinh Le

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score 10 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 15 '17 at 07:06

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Right click on Git Bash shortcutand then go to properties.
In properties inside start in option add the location of the directory you want to start Git Bash in and apply the changes.

answered Jun 15 '17 at 07:06

Anant Singh

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score 9 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 21 '18 at 13:21

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I am using Git bash on Windows 10, here is my solution:

Close all git bash sessions
Hit windows key and type: env; then click Edit environment variables for your account (control panel)
Under "User variables for ...."; hit New button
Variable Name: HOME
Variable value: path where you would like ~/ to be in git bash

Open a git bash session and test it by typing: pwd and double check by doing cd ~/ && pwd

answered Mar 21 '18 at 13:21

rolyat

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Some versions of Git use HOMEPATH instead of HOME. If you check the start in folder for Git Bash you can see which environment variable is used. – Matt Nov 06 '18 at 17:57

score 9 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 06 '19 at 14:07

Git bash is used to play with bash commands. So I use bash method itself in windows Git bash

Edit your .bash_profile (create it if you doesnot have one - see below how to create). Enter the following lines.

Add these lines to the file

alias ws="cd /d/workspace/"
ws

My .bash_profile looks like this

Smilyface@SmilingMachine /d/workspace
$ cat ~/.bash_profile
alias ws="cd /d/workspace/"
ws

How to create a new .bash_profile ?

touch ~/.bash_profile

OR write into the file directly

vi ~/.bash_profile

Simple, aha !

precise and clear, of course ~/.bashrc file would be okay too. — soMuchToLearnAndShare, Oct 23 '19 at 20:57

score 6 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 12 '17 at 15:06

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Once you have updated the Start in: field make sure to remove the --cd-to-home at the end of the Target: field

answered Apr 12 '17 at 15:06

Icementhols

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Surendranath Sonawane · Answer 13 · 2022-02-11T07:02:33.333

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If using Windows OS then add target like above :

Right click on git terminal > Properties

Properties>Under shortcut tab>Start in: add your folder target path like below image

edited Feb 11 '22 at 07:02

answered May 13 '21 at 08:57

Surendranath Sonawane

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score 5 · Answer 14 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:56

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Make a Git Bash shortcut to Desktop for convenience then right click on the icon goto properties. Here you will find the Start in: section with a text box. Replace the path you want, for example like:

%USERPROFILE%\Desktop

Then open it directly by clicking on the icon. You will get the default Desktop path in Git Bash.

edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:56

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 04 '14 at 10:40

anand

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Ah! I also needed to remove the `--cd-to-home` option. – Andrey Mikhaylov - lolmaus Oct 10 '18 at 10:08

score 5 · Answer 15 · answered Feb 06 '21 at 18:50

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Open this file:

C:\Program Files\Git\etc\bash.bashrc

And append the following line:

cd /c/Users/<User>/Documents/path/to/your/repos

Restart Git bash

answered Feb 06 '21 at 18:50

sklimkovitch

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colinD · Answer 16 · 2021-08-04T08:16:21.283

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If you're using Git Bash through Windows Terminal, you can set the starting directory (of any profile).

In Windows Terminal, go to Settings > Open JSON file.
In this file, in profiles > list, you can set the startingDirectory property (backslashes need to be escaped).

See the documentation.

edited Aug 04 '21 at 08:16

answered Aug 04 '21 at 08:09

colinD

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score 4 · Answer 17 · answered Oct 28 '19 at 22:38

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I liked Peter Mortenson's answer, but I would like to expand.

'cd ~' in the .bashrc file causes the "Git Bash Here" feature of Git Bash to stop working. Instead, add this if statement to the .bashrc file:

if [ "$PWD" == '/' ]
then
        cd ~
fi

This will change to the home directory when Git Bash is run on its own, but when "Git Bash Here" is run, the current working directory will not be changed.

answered Oct 28 '19 at 22:38

Richard Sellers

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I like this idea but it doesn't actually work as written because $PWD contains '/c/Users//', not '/'. Git bash starts in ~. I don't see Peter's answer though, so maybe I'm basing this on a totally different solution. – Chris Nov 10 '21 at 15:07

vlatko606 · Answer 18 · 2020-10-29T09:16:33.103

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the only way that worked for me on windows 10:

right-click gitbash shortcut -> proporties
change target as: "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" --cd=C:\Users\test\Desktop\

This will always open desktop path

edited Oct 29 '20 at 09:16

answered Oct 29 '20 at 08:50

vlatko606

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score 3 · Answer 19 · answered Mar 09 '21 at 17:53

Add a line to change to the desired directory in your .bashrc file or create a .bashrc if you don't have one.

I.e. add cd C:/path/to/yourfolder to your .bashrc file

Be mindful that the path format is forward slash '/' Unix style and not Windows '\' backslash.

One way to do this is to open bash and edit it using vim

Open up Git Bash
Run vim ~/.bashrc
Press i in order to insert characters
Type cd C:/path/to/folder; (make sure you use forward slashes)
Press esc to exit the insert mode
Press :wq or ZZ to save and exit vim

I found this solution on https://simplernerd.com/cli-git-bash-default/

score 2 · Answer 20 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 17:02

2

Just type the path of your local directory (Git project home directory) in the properties of Git Bash. I.e. set path C:\yourprojsctdirectory to Git Bash's properties field "Execute In" or (Ausführen in). That's it!

Now double click Git Bash. The Git header will be on your "yourprojsctdirectory".

edited Jul 21 '17 at 17:02

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 05 '14 at 10:27

Adnan Ali Ch.

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score 2 · Answer 21 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

The working solution listed are great, but the problem occurs when you want multiple default home for your git-bash.

A simple workaround is to start git-bash using bat script.

git-bash-to-htdocs.bat

cd C:\xampp\htdocs
"C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe"

The above of course assume git-bash is installed at C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe

You can create multiple .bat file so your git-bash can start where it want to be

score 1 · Answer 22 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:55

1

Add "cd your_repos_path" to your Git profile, which is under the %.

edited Jul 21 '17 at 16:55

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 15 '13 at 03:01

Liang Haiming

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score 1 · Answer 23 · answered May 29 '22 at 06:39

As from this link

lets say you want your change to default location to c:\myprojects

Open git bash

type in:

echo "cd 'C:\myprojects'" >> ~/.bash_profile

Press Enter

Close Git bash and open again

You should start from c:\myprojects

Tested on git version 2.36.1 on windows

Troubleshoot:

Make sure you type in the folder inside the '' and the entire cd command inside "" just like the example
make sure folder exist

score 0 · Answer 24 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 17:16

0

I tried the following; it helped me. I hope it help you also.

cd /c/xampp/your-project

edited Jul 21 '17 at 17:16

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 10 '17 at 12:24

Muhammad Sohail iqbal

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@MuhammadSohailiqbal - The question is how to set it in default. So that whenever he opens the Git Bash, it should directly go to that directory. – smilyface Jun 06 '19 at 14:11

FerhatC · Answer 25 · 2021-12-04T13:58:51.257

Since I'm using git-bash inside of vscode as a terminal I don't always want to cd into a specific directory, for this to work I checked if my current directory(pwd) is / and if so it should only then cd to ~. So whenever I open the terminal inside vscode git-bash's current working directory is my opened folder inside of vscode and it doesn't change to ~ since it only does that when my current working directory is /.

For this to work I added following if condition into ~/.bashrc:

if [ $(pwd) = '/' ] then cd ~; fi

TIP: make sure your ~/.bash_profile actually loads ~/.bashrc by a line like the following:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi

score 0 · Answer 26 · answered Sep 30 '22 at 22:28

0

You can create a .bashrc configuration file:

cd ~ && touch .bashrc && echo "cd /folder1/folder2/folder3"

Change cd command to the directory you want.

answered Sep 30 '22 at 22:28

Spencer Elswick

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How do I change the default location for Git Bash on Windows?

26 Answers26

Add these lines to the file

My .bash_profile looks like this

How to create a new .bash_profile ?

git-bash-to-htdocs.bat

Linked

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