GitHub keep asking for username password when git push

By mkyong | Updated: October 17, 2021

Viewed: 39,381 (+56 pv/w)

Tags: git github ssh key

git clone one of my existing repo (with SSH key added in the Github), modified some files and tried to git push, and it keeps asking for username and password for git push operation?

git push

Username for 'https://github.com':
Password for 'https://github.com':  

GitHub authentication is successful.

ssh -T [email protected]           

Hi mkyong! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

1. Password authentication was removed

Even if we enter the correct username and password, Github still does not allow for pushing because the password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021. Please use a personal access token instead.

% git push     

Username for 'https://github.com': [email protected]
Password for 'https://[email protected]@github.com':
remote: Support for password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021. Please use a personal access token instead.
remote: Please see https://github.blog/2020-12-15-token-authentication-requirements-for-git-operations/ for more information.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/mkyong/spring-boot/'

2. Use SSH, not HTTPS

The main reason for this problem is mistakenly git clone the HTTPS URL; we need the SSH URL to use the SSH keys. The solution is to update the .git/config file, url value to SSH instead of HTTPS.

2.1 Go to the repo directory, open the file .git/config.

[core]
      repositoryformatversion = 0
      filemode = true
      bare = false
      logallrefupdates = true
      ignorecase = true
      precomposeunicode = true
[remote "origin"]
      url = https://github.com/mkyong/spring-boot
      fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
[branch "master"]
      remote = origin
      merge = refs/heads/master

2.2 Update the url from HTTPS https://github.com/mkyong/spring-boot to SSH [email protected]:mkyong/spring-boot.git.

[core]
        repositoryformatversion = 0
        filemode = true
        bare = false
        logallrefupdates = true
        ignorecase = true
        precomposeunicode = true
[remote "origin"]
        url = [email protected]:mkyong/spring-boot.git
        fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
[branch "master"]
        remote = origin
        merge = refs/heads/master

Done, try git push again.

References

• Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account
• Token authentication requirements for Git operations