How to Install TortoiseGIT on Windows

Clean house first!

TortoiseGIT installations may fail to work properly if there is Git related residue in your system from past installs of other git related packages.

• Uninstall any Git distributions other than msysGit, including Cygwin's git.

• From the command prompt, type "git help". Verify that you get "'git' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." If instead you get a help screen, you've still got a version of git installed somewhere. This is likely to cause trouble - uninstall it. If you've got msysGit, that's OK if it is an up-to-date version installed in the default location.

• Search your system for any files named ".gitconfig" and either delete them or rename them.

Install the prerequisites

• Install msysGit. Get it from ​http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list
  • Select "Run Git from the Windows Command Prompt" option from the "Adjusting you PATH environment" dialog.
  • Select "Checkout as-is, commit as-is" from the "Configuring the line ending conversions dialog".
  • Click Finish.

Install and setup TortoiseGIT

• Install TortoiseGIT. Get it from ​http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/downloads/list

Start | All programs | TortoiseGit | Settings -> Select Git | Config and enter your Name and Email address. Click "Edit global .gitconfig, and then answer Yes when asked if you would like to create this file. Click Apply back on the Settings dialog. (If you click "Edit global .gitconfig" again, you will now see your User Info. Click OK to exit the Settings dialog.

• Confidence test - read-only clone a repository from GitHub.
  • Start Windows Explorer
  • Create a new directory named "btree"
  • Right click on btree. Context menu should include several Git related entries; click on "Git clone"
  • Enter URL: ​git://github.com/Beman/Boost-Btree.git Note that this form of URL is for a read-only checkout; you can modify the local repository, but can't push those changes back to the origin.
  • Click OK, and the local repository should be created.
  • Browse the directories and files, and the familiar icons should appear; TortoiseSVN and TortoiseGIT use the same icon overlays.
  • Modify a file, then commit the change. Because this is Git, you are committing to the local repository.
  • Try a push to the remote repository; it will fail because you did a read-only clone.