279

How to add a context (aka right click) menu to the windows explorer that, when clicked, opens the git-bash console in the current explorer folder?

7
  • If you install current version of Git for Windows, it already provides those shortcuts. Commented Jan 11, 2019 at 17:25
  • 3
    @Lombas not if you're using portable, which you might have to use if you don't have admin rights. Commented Jun 27, 2019 at 9:50
  • 7
    If your contextual items disappeared after a Windows update you can just run the script here: github.com/Hattoff/GitBashHere Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 12:28
  • 2
    Currently not supported in Windows 11. Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 8:16
  • 2
    The easiest way is to install git once again from git-scm.com/download/win Commented May 23, 2022 at 8:45

20 Answers 20

465

Step 1. On your desktop right click "New"->"Text Document" with name OpenGitBash.reg

Step 2. Right click the file and choose "Edit"

Step 3. Copy-paste the code below, save and close the file

Step 4. Execute the file by double clicking it

Note: You need administrator permission to write to the registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Open files
; Default Git-Bash Location C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open Git Bash]
@="Open Git Bash"
"Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open Git Bash\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe\" \"--cd=%1\""

; This will make it appear when you right click ON a folder
; The "Icon" line can be removed if you don't want the icon to appear

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\bash]
@="Open Git Bash"
"Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\bash\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe\" \"--cd=%1\""

; This will make it appear when you right click INSIDE a folder
; The "Icon" line can be removed if you don't want the icon to appear

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\bash]
@="Open Git Bash"
"Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\bash\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe\" \"--cd=%v.\""

And here is your result :

enter image description here

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16 Comments

This doesn't add the "Open Git Bash here" option though.
@ZexDC : If you want a 'Open Git Bash here' instead of 'Open Git Bash' , you can simply add a 'here' in the OpenGitBash.reg where ever you encounter 'Open Git Bash' .
FYI, if you want it only for a specific user account, the this is where the Git for Windows installer puts those git_bash and git_gui keys: HKEY_USERS\{the-account-SID}\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\shell , HKEY_USERS\{the-account-SID}\Software\Classes\Directory\shell , and HKEY_USERS\{the-account-SID}\Software\Classes\LibraryFolder\background\shell
Worked Right Away in Windows 10. Thanks! Awesome solution.
In case anyone wants to add a keyboard shortcut for this command (The underline thingy in the context menu) just add an & in front of the key you want. For eg.: Open Git &bash here would make this command accessible by the keyboard shortcut letter b whenever you open context menu.
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310

I had a similar issue and I did this.

Step 1 : Type "regedit" in start menu

Step 2 : Run the registry editor

Step 3 : Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shell. If you don't have the shell key, create one.

Step 4 : Right-click on "shell" and choose New > Key. name the Key "Bash"

Right click on "shell" and choose New > Key. name the Key "Bash"

Step 5 : Modify the value and set it to "open in Bash" This is the text that appears in the right click.

enter image description here

enter image description here

Step 6 : Create a new key under Bash and name it "command". Set the value of this key to your git-bash.exe path.

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

Close the registry editor.

You should now be able to see the option in right click menu in explorer

PS Git Bash by default picks up the current directory.

EDIT : If you want a one click approach, check Ozesh's solution below

17 Comments

I was getting an error Explorer error. To fix this I have to add an Expandable String Value in the commandKey with values "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" "%V"
this also worked in windows10 while I only had the shellex key and no shell (which I created per your directions and all worked fine)
@Julix stackoverflow.com/a/27090678/2697556 Found this. Hope it works for you
Windows 10 here: while this solution worked for me by adding a "shell" first, it doesn't give you a visual cue to see the shortcut easily. I like Ozesh's solution more because it gives you an icon as well. It's literally copy-paste and run. It will save you a lot more time. Both solutions work though.
Just a quick addition to this...if you want to add the icon, in the Bash key add a new string value called Icon and set it's value to C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\share\git\git-for-windows.ico
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77

The easiest way is to install the latest Git from here. And while installing, make sure you are enabling the option Windows Explorer Integration.

enter image description here

Once you are done, you will get those options in whenever you right click on any folder.

enter image description here

Hope it helps.

6 Comments

Unfortunately those are only install options, they not available after installation
@ThomasRones, yeah, it's irritating that running the installer again doesn't give me access to these options.
Thank you very much! Works perfectly! IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS ANSWER: It's very important to uncheck the "Only show new options" option located at the very bottom of the first installation window (in order to get to this "Select components" section)!
For me, re-running the installer did work. I first ran the installer without un-checking that box mentioned by Vasilije Bursac ("Only show new options"). Then just ran the installer again, unchecked the box, and now I have the git context menu items back. I am at 2.31.1
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29

Here are the Registry exports (*.reg files) for Git GUI and Git Bash directly from the Windows installer —Git GUI:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\git_gui]
@="Git &GUI Here"
"Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Git\\cmd\\git-gui.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\git_gui\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Git\\cmd\\git-gui.exe\" \"--working-dir\" \"%v.\""

Git bash:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\git_shell]
@="Git Ba&sh Here"
"Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\git_shell\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Git\\git-bash.exe\" \"--cd=%v.\""

For detail about *.reg files, see “How to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a .reg file” from Microsoft.

4 Comments

What's that & before GUI?
@TheSETJ The letter that succeeds & becomes the hotkey for that menu entry.
it works with less code. Be sure to replace the path with the real path.
I think this is the best answer for those who are looking a way to re-add the options after the installation. Works perfectly fine as well!
7

You can install git for windows or Github for windows , both give you the choice while installing to add this feature to your windows explorer. You can find it here:

Github for Windows

https://windows.github.com/

Git for Windows

http://git-scm.com/

3 Comments

This might be a useful answer, but it's important to note that this is emphatically not "Git for Windows". You can get official builds of Git for Windows from the Git website or from the Git for Windows site. Your link goes to GitHub for Windows, which is a proprietary tool separate from Git.
When installing Git for Windows the context menu options are not 'on' by default. You will have to select them during the install.
I think the question is more about how to add it after the installation is over.
7

As, @Shaswat Rungta said: "I think the question is more about how to add it after the installation is over."

On my PC(Windows 7) I think that the command "Git Bash here" disappeard after I installed Visual Studio 2017.

I fixt this by downloading and installing Git again.


NOTE: "When installing Git for Windows the context menu options are not 'on' by default. You will have to select them during the install." – @nbushnell (I did this)

5 Comments

Regarding your NOTE. Which particular option did you select during install to enable the context menu options? For me, it doesn't show the option to "Git CMD here"
Pay attention to the installation process steps. My current version had these settings added by default.
I did. To be clear there is no option to "Git CMD here" in the installation steps, which is what I was looking for. They only have it for "Git GUI" and "Git Bash". Which explains why there is no contex menu option for "Git CMD here". Wonder why? Right now I have to launch it manually, which makes no sense.
Git Bash is what you are looking for. That opens the terminal in the current directory.
Then why do they have the Git CMD option after installation? Why even show it up in the Start menu? Besides, on Windows it makes more sense to have the Git CMD instead of Git Bash.
7

What worked for me was almost this, but with the following REGEDIT path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Classes/Directory/background/shell and here I created the key Bash, with the value of what I want the display name to be, and then created another key under this named command with the value as the path to git-bash.exe

I'm on Windows 10 and have a fresh git install that didn't add this automatically for some reason (git version 2.12.0 64bit)

1 Comment

You should adapt the entire answer here, so that a reader doesn't have to go find that post first (which may have been deleted, the user deleted, or the user renamed).
3

Had a similar issue in adding "Start Command Prompt with Ruby" to context menu as it involves passing parameters along with the patch of cmd. Followed a similar procedure as the solution above

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Cmd With Ruby]  
@="Cmd With Ruby"  
"Icon"="C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Cmd With Ruby\command]
@="\"C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe\" \"/E:ON /K
\"C:\\Ruby25-x64\\bin\\setrbvars.cmd\"\" \"--cd=%1\"\""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\bash]  
@="Cmd With Ruby"  
"Icon"="C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\bash\command]
@="\"C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe\" \"/E:ON /K
\"C:\\Ruby25-x64\\bin\\setrbvars.cmd\"\" \"--cd=%1\"\"" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\bash]  
@="Cmd With Ruby"  
"Icon"="C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\bash\command]
@="\"C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe\" \"/E:ON /K
\"C:\\Ruby25-x64\\bin\\setrbvars.cmd\"\" \"--cd=%v.\"\""

Comments

2

When you install git-scm found in "https://git-scm.com/downloads" uncheck the "Only show new options" located at the very bottom of the installation window

Make sure you check

  • Windows Explorer integration
    • Git Bash Here
    • Git GUI Here

Click Next and you're good to go!

Comments

2

Try updating your git. For window user you can update your git via cmd by simply writing the command- "git update-git-for-windows".

When done, you can simply right click inside a directory where you want to open the gitbash and check if its showing "Gitbash here" or not. If it's not showing anything, try to look for "Show more options" there and click on it. Now, you may able to see it.

Comments

1

Usually git bash here can be run only on directories so you have to go up a directory and right click on the previous directory then select git bash here (of course on Windows OS).
Note: context menu inside a directory does not have a git bash here option.

3 Comments

You can right click in the white space while inside of a directory to access git bash here.
@RyanJMcGowan you are right. However in windows XP that option is not available so I asumed that was the case.
This helped me as I'm using Directory Opus as a Explorer replacement. I only get the context menu items when right clicking a folder (not in the empty white space). Works fine both ways when using Windows Explorer.
1

Another option but using PowerShell script.

This is basically a PowerShell script which does almost the same as this answer (it also adds icon).

Create file (addOpenGitBashHereContextMenu.ps1), paste in the code below and run it from PowerShell.

You probably need to change exePath to point to your git executable. Also change contextMenuText if you want to change the text in context menu.

$exePath = $env:USERPROFILE + '\scoop\apps\git\current\git-bash.exe'
$contextMenuText = 'Open Git Bash Here'
$regEntryName = 'git_shell'

$regPathShell = 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shell'
$regPathContextMenu = $regPathShell + '\' + $regEntryName
$regPathCommand = $regPathContextMenu + '\command'
$user = $env:UserName

echo "Setting '$contextMenuText' context menu..."
echo "  User name: '$user'"
echo "  Register path: '$regPathCommand'"
echo "  Executable path: '$exePath'"

# Key: shell
If (-NOT (Test-Path $regPathShell)) {
   New-Item -Path $regPathShell
}

# Key: regEntryName
If (-NOT (Test-Path $regPathContextMenu)) {
   New-Item -Path $regPathContextMenu -Value $contextMenuText

   # Add Icon to context menu
   Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPathContextMenu -Name 'Icon' -Value $exePath
}

# Key: command
If (-NOT (Test-Path $regPathCommand)) {
   New-Item -Path $regPathCommand -Value $exePath
}

Comments

1

I ran into this problem installing Git-2.38.1-64-bit on a new Windows 10 Pro corporate laptop.

I tried several things ... and considered one of the regedit scripts (the moral equivalent of "Nurse - chainsaw!")... but resolved the problem by simply uninstalling and reinstalling Git (as "Admin").

Specifically:

  1. Control Panel > Programs/Features > Uninstall Git

  2. Reboot Windows

  3. Reinstall Git-2.38.1-64-bit as "Admin"

  4. Carefull check all the options, especially:

    • "Windows Explorer Integration: Git Bash Here, Git GUI Here

      <= These are checked by default ... and I'm sure they were both "Y" on the initial install

  5. I copied my .gitconfig ("C:\Users\USERNAME.gitconfig") from another PC

    <= I don't believe this was "essential" ...but I thought I'd mention it...

  6. Browse to a local Git repo and verify the Git context menus work

    <= Success after reinstall!

Comments

0

I updated my git and I marked the option of "Git Bash Here"

1 Comment

Please can you add some comments. What is the new version? And which windows version do you use? Was an restart necessary?
0

I have already too many programs that want a spot on my PATH list. Rather than pollute my PATH list, I choose instead to add a symbolic link, from an elevated command prompt, like so.

mklink C:\bin\git-bash.exe "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe"

While there are exceptions, this works in the majority of cases, including, among others, the 7-zip CLI, selected SysInternals command line tools, the NuGet CLI, and many others.

As a bonus, having the Git Bash command line interface so readily accessible makes activating it from an open command prompt window trivial. With this improvement, I can probably live without yet another item on my context menu for directories.

Comments

0

In addition to the answers with the theory and the minimal examples see the example of the .reg file for Git (and not only, with the instruction) with user-friendly names, shortcut keys (& in a user-friendly name) and icons in the "win-registry-snippets" repository

Comments

-1

Just open your git bash terminal and type in:

git update-git-for-windows

Once update is completed, this will automatically add "Git Bash here" into your context menu.

Refer this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/65467670

2 Comments

Didn't work for me :/
Your suggestion does not work. Delete this.
-3

You can install TortoiseGit for Windows and include integration in context menu. I consider it the best tool to work with Git on Windows.

1 Comment

It's good but there is no button 'run bash here' like it was requested in this topic.
-3

Add the gitpath to the Environment-path variable (e.g. C:\Program Files\Git\cmd) by which you can access git from any folder using command line.

2 Comments

Not what the OP asked for.
But still solves the problem to some extent.
-3

Use Shift + F10 to open the menu of options which appear when right clicked, and then click s to git bash here.

Comments

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