Github “Failed to publish this branch” error on windows

Question

I'm new to git, and I just downloaded it yesterday. As a test for my first online (not local) repo, I committed a useless text file and then hit publish. After a short while, I got this very non-descriptive error:

So I know that I can't publish to this branch. There's only one and it's the master branch. Does anyone have any further information on what might be causing this error?

As a side note, my partner has successfully uploaded files to the same repo, but I haven't gotten any sort of indication that this has happened. Does this mean I'm not connected to the repo properly in some way? I was the one who set it up!

Answer 1

In Windows, right click on your repository --> click on open a shell here

You will see a command prompt.

type git push in it. (been aware after seeing SimonBoudrias comment)

The command prompt will suggest you to type some other command or shows an error.

If the command prompt suggest you to type something else, then type that. It will work.
If the command prompt shows error then please post the detailed error here.

Info : You might want to check this app

Answer 2

Open a shell in your repository. Then type

git push --set-upstream origin master --force

This will upload your local repo to the server no matter what, overwriting if necessary. This should only be done if you're sure nobody else is publishing to your repo at the moment.

Answer 3

I had the same issue as mentioned here, but none of the solutions mentioned above helped. Then I found this answer which talks about Proxy settings , which is exactly why GitHub was failing to commit on my machine. Hope this helps somebody else

To set up your Proxy Settings, you just need to use this command:

git config --global http.proxy http[s]://userName:password@proxyaddress:port

Answer 4

Another possibility is a temporary unavailability of GitHub servers .

I'm just having the same problem and confirmed that it's a server issue: https://status.github.com/

Sample screenshot:

Answer 5

To fix it, open a command prompt in the repo. For example by pressing the cog in the top right in the repo view and selecting "open a shell here".

• In the command prompt, type git push --set-upstream origin master

• Either this will work, or it will say ! [rejected] master -> master (fetch first) ! [rejected] master -> master (fetch first)

• If this happens, type git pull origin master (add --rebase if you like)

In GitHub the Publish-button might still be visible instead of the sync button. If this is the case, simply restart GitHub.

What this does is resetting the default remote branch for your local branch to master.

Answer 6

Maybe you just forget type something to the Description area when you commit your files. Someone like me only type the summery.So make sure you have fill in the Summary and Description when you commmit.

Just type something to the Description textarea when commiting. Then i published successfully.

what i do? 1 Go to the folder of your repository in Windows Explorer 2 delete the file your want to publish. and recreat it. 3 Open GitHub For Windows and click on your Repository .then you will find Uncommitted changes on left side.
4 type your Summary 5 type your Description.(the most important step !!!) 6 commit to master 7 Hit Publish and You should be successful.

This is my first answer. so i have no 10 reputation to post an image......hope help you.

Answer 7

I had this error since I forgot to add remote repository link in the GitHub desktop. Once added the correct repo link, everything worked.

Answer 8

Try to commit your changes before publishing. It helps me to solve same problem.

Answer 9

I too had the same problem while publishing my GitHub page. I solved it in the following way.

$git push

I got the error message here. Then I made a pull request

$git pull

After this I made the push again

$git push

Here I got the solution

Note:I use GitHub for windows,And finally published the page using it

Answer 10

I was getting that error because I hadn't properly configured my name and email. On the page where you do that (in the native app, at least), you'll see that the page opens with your name and email already filled in but that doesn't mean that they're saved as settings. In order to save them, you have to press the check mark in the bottom left corner of that screen.

Answer 11

I got this error because I already had created a repository with the same name on github, and then created it locally and tried to commit it. The solution was to delete it from github, then commit it from the local client. Now they're in sync.