Git: Failed to erase credential: Element not found

Question

I\'m trying to set up Git on a fresh machine, and I\'m having trouble authenticating with my remote repository.

I have limited experience with Git, but I have succes

Answer 1

With GitHub, you get this message if you are using 2-factor authentication and https Git.

The solution is to create a personal access token which you use in place of your password.

See https://github.com/blog/1614-two-factor-authentication

Answer 2

I´m using GitExtension 2.46 (including msysgit 1.8.3) and I encountered the same problem. Also reverting the installation of GitExtension 2.44 (with msysgit 1.8.1.2) doesn´t solve the problem.

After some testing I came to the conclusion that my password is the problem, cause the latest release of the git-credential-winstore.exe fixes an issue with "=" in passwords.

My password does not contain any =, but it contains a " and §. So my first thought was to update the installed version of git-credential-winstore.exe to the latest Version 1.2. I updated the file manually and tried it again, but with no success.

Finally i have changed my password to not include any special characters and now it works.

Answer 3

If you're using the Windows Credential Store for Git then the problem may be that you're using the buggy 1.3 version.

Troubleshoot the issue on the command using:

cmdkey /list

to list your current credentials in the Windows Credential Store.

And to add your git credentials manually (for TFS Online in this case, but it's the same for Github):

cmdkey /generic:LegacyGeneric:target=git:https://mysite.visualstudio.com /user:MyName /pass:MyPass123

What I found was that after doing something like a git pull my credentials got deleted automatically.

Installing git-credential-store v1.2 fixed the problem for me. See: git push fails with git-credential-winstore

I also changed my "Alternate Credentials" password in my profile for my TFS Online account (their password policy has changed to now require 3 different character classes), as suggested in Barbara's answer.

Answer 4

I had this problem with github. In my case the source of the problem was Two-factor authentication. I had it turned on, and when I turned it off - I got rid of that credential-error.

That's a shame though that I have to keep Two-factor authentication off because of it.

Answer 5

I had the same issue just now but I guess the cause might be a bit different.

In my scenario I was trying to access a new TFS-git repo with the same account as I use to access another TFS repo. The solution for me was to reinstall the git-credential-winstore.exe application and reinstall it. I also removed the stored credentials in Windows credential manager. Link to git credentials application: http://gitcredentialstore.codeplex.com/

Hope this helps someone!

Answer 6

I had the same error in windows. It happened after i changed the credentials in the Control panel -> Users -> Manage credentials.

I fixed it by adding a new credential:

git:https://github.com (web credentials) and username and password.