How to switch git user at terminal?

Question

I am trying to push a project to a remote repository from the command line.

From inside my local directory, I hit:

$ git push

and obtain the following error:

remote: Permission to username1/repo.git denied to username2.
fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/username1/repo.git/':
The requested URL returned error: 403

Where username1 is my github account username hosting the repository I want to push to and username2 is an old account I used to use on this machine.

I am using OS X Yosemite (v10.10.5) on a Macbook Air. And I would prefer to use https instead of ssh.

How do I update to username1 so I can successfully push to my remote?

Edit: To be clear, I am not talking about simply editing the config user object, e.g.,

$ git config --global user.name "Billy Everyteen"
$ git config --global user.email "billyeveryteen@example.com"

They have nothing to do with authentication. My question deals with user authentication necessary to write to my remote repository.

[Setting your username in Git](https://help.github.com/articles/setting-your-username-in-git/) — DavidPostill, Apr 11 '16 at 18:57
Thanks. But that only deals with setting the username. Not authentication. In other words, that documentation shows us how to associate the name of who gets credit for the commits. But it doesn't actually authorize the user to push commits. — Mowzer, Apr 11 '16 at 19:03
You might be able to change it user the command documented at https://git-scm.com/docs/gitcredentials . Alternatively, if you want to clear the credentials, you might look at this question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15381198/remove-credentials-from-git . — John, Apr 11 '16 at 19:14
just push once to another git using another user. I wounder WHY is it so hard to do. — Arkady, Nov 15 '19 at 09:38

Said Sikira · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-07T20:02:09.863

91

In addition to changing username and email from terminal using git config:

$ git config --global user.name "Bob"
$ git config --global user.email "bob@example.com"

you'll need to remove authorization info from Keychain. This is something I've also struggled with until I found that I also had certificate in my Keychain.

Open up Keychain access, click on All Items and search for git. You will get some items like this:

Delete them. Now try to push the repo and git will ask you to write password for the user and you will be good to go.

edited Sep 07 '16 at 20:02

answered Apr 11 '16 at 20:21

Said Sikira

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4

What about Windows users? – Aks.. Mar 08 '17 at 06:14
12

i have multiple accounts what should i do – Amerrnath Jan 18 '18 at 08:46
I'm having the same issue with win7. I not sure what the solution is :( – Fiddle Freak Oct 02 '18 at 23:04
Thank you this worked perfectly – htafoya Apr 16 '20 at 19:34
I used to do that but it's annoying when having to switch back and forth between accounts. This answer would be great for the question of how to make the system forget one's credentials; for changing account, I think the accepted answer should be https://superuser.com/a/1245296/430259. – Tom May 06 '20 at 08:46
In case you're having trouble deleting the password after a search: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/344380/350595 – Brunox13 Sep 23 '21 at 16:11

score 47 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '17 at 02:07

47

For cli users, just use this : git config credential.username 'Billy Everytee'

answered Aug 29 '17 at 02:07

Jackman

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You need to disable 2FA temporarily. – bbaassssiiee Jun 18 '18 at 09:37
This wasn't enough for me. I also needed to set a different user.email using git config for the specific repo: `git config user.email "bob@example.com"` – David Villamizar Jul 19 '22 at 17:06

score 31 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 23 '20 at 14:37

31

List your git config.

git config --list

Change username and email global

git config --global user.name "Nanhe Kumar"
git config --global user.email "info@nanhekumar.com"

Change username and email for current repo

git config  user.name "Nanhe Kumar"
git config  user.email "info@nanhekumar.com"

Change your repo url if you are using bit bucket.

nano .git/config

This file will be something like this.

[core]
        repositoryformatversion = 0
        fileMode = false
        bare = false
        logallrefupdates = true
        ignorecase = true
        precomposeunicode = true
[remote "origin"]
        url = https://nanhe@bitbucket.org/nanhekumar/myproject.git
        fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
[branch "master"]
        remote = origin
        merge = refs/heads/master`

    [user]
            name = Nanhe Kumar
            email = info@nanhekumar.com

edited Mar 23 '20 at 14:37

DrakaSAN

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answered Feb 13 '19 at 08:05

Nanhe Kumar

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This is the most thorough answer considering global and local repo scope. – Jordan Stefanelli Oct 03 '19 at 17:57
1

This doesn't answer the question: "My question deals with user authentication necessary to write to my remote repository." – Will Manley Aug 23 '21 at 07:44
This is working perfectly – Blues Clues Jul 07 '22 at 16:35
@Jie thanks but this like film industry if you edit not solution indentation content your earn point so i have long time not answring – Nanhe Kumar Jul 07 '22 at 22:05

score 28 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 02 '18 at 16:17

28

For Windows User:
Follow Instructions:
Control Panel >> User Account >> Credential Manager >> Windows Credential >> Generic Credential

remove git credential.
next time when you'll push repo it'll ask you for credential.
Answer reference for detailed explanation

answered Nov 02 '18 at 16:17

Shubham Chadokar

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Thank you! That was what I was looking for on Windows. – JCF Mar 25 '19 at 00:39
@JCF Welcome! I am glad it helped! – Shubham Chadokar Mar 25 '19 at 05:23

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 17 '20 at 15:34

8

Other plausible option, if you wanted to use the "new user" on only one project, you can do it by configuring it just for the project's directory in which you are working. e.g:

 git config --local user.name "Mike"
 git config --local user.email "mike@example.com"

note that I'm using --local instead of --global.

answered Mar 17 '20 at 15:34

Nick Cuevas

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Doesn't simply **omitting --global** create the same effect as "[Git will write to a local level if no configuration option is passed](https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/setting-up-a-repository/git-config)"? – MiB Mar 04 '21 at 21:28
This doesn't answer the question: "My question deals with user authentication necessary to write to my remote repository." – Will Manley Aug 23 '21 at 07:44

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 30 '20 at 12:09

1

If you're on windows you can simply use GitManager (GitAccountManager on npm): https://github.com/paul-hanneforth/GitManager. There you can do it all with only one command.

answered Mar 30 '20 at 12:09

Paul Hanneforth

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Although it's reasonably obvious from the link & your user name, to prevent being potentially flagged as spam it's always better to make your affiliation clear in your post. – Tetsujin Mar 30 '20 at 12:43

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 22 '23 at 01:42

Solving the actual authentication issue, one needs to specify the correct remote, if the standard git config suggestions don't work.

If so, you're probably using an SSH key and it's in your keychain. When using a repository with a new user, make sure your SSH key is configured in ~/.ssh/config (handy link to instructions if you need to add a new key), like so:

Host github.com
   HostName github.com
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/myFirstAccountKey
   IdentitiesOnly yes

Host github-second-account
   HostName github.com
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/mySecondAccountKey
   IdentitiesOnly yes

I'm not sure if the IdentitiesOnly attribute is required for either of the two.

Then update the remote origin of the repository you're having auth issues to use the second account:

git remote add origin git@github-second-account:[YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME]/[YOUR_GITHUB_REPO].git

See for more detail: https://gist.github.com/oanhnn/80a89405ab9023894df7

How to switch git user at terminal?

7 Answers7