Desktop cannot open to a specific branch from a repo page using "Open in Desktop" from GitHub.com

Describe the bug

I want to open this tag as a branch in GitHub Desktop. https://github.com/JMRI/JMRI/tree/v4.23.2

The web site has a green button “Code” which opens a dropdown menu with the menu item “Open with GitHub Desktop”. I click on that and I get a question if I want to open GitHub Desktop and I say OK. GitHub Desktop opens, but nothing happens. The branch is not opened in GitHub Desktop.

Note that this works with Pull Requests. On PRs, there is a white button “Open with” which opens a dropdown menu with the option “Open in Desktop”. This works fine.

Version & OS

GitHub Desktop 2.6.6. I have checked for updates and GitHub Desktop tells that I have the latest version.

Windows 8.1. Firefox and Brave (chromium based browser)

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Go to https://github.com/JMRI/JMRI/tree/v4.23.2
2. Click on the green button “Code”.
3. Select “Open with GitHub Desktop”.
4. Tell the browser to open GitHub Desktop.
5. GitHub Desktop opens.
6. Nothing happens. The branch is not opened.

Expected behavior

GitHub Desktop should create a new branch for this tag.

git checkout -b newbranch v1.0

Actual behavior

Nothing happens. GitHub Desktop opens, but nothing happens.

Note that this works fine for Pull Requests but not for tags.

Logs

2021-03-16T09:57:11.157Z - info: [ui] execPath: 'C:\Users\daniel\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\app-2.6.6\GitHubDesktop.exe'
2021-03-16T09:57:45.436Z - info: [main] Received possible protocol arguments: 4
2021-03-16T09:57:45.436Z - info: [main] Processing protocol url
2021-03-16T09:57:45.537Z - info: [ui] [BranchPruner] Last prune took place in 8 hours - skipping

[tidy-dev]

@danielb987 As long as that user has pushed their branch to the repository and you have fetched the latest in your GitHub Desktop that users branch should appear in the branch dropdown menu and can be filtered down to.

For example, my teammate created this branch create-branch-from-commit and I can tell it is not local to my machine because it is prefaced with origin/ my remote signifier.

Once you have checked out that branch, you can open the create branch dialog either from the app level branch menu or by hitting 'New Branch` next to the filter in the branch dropdown menu. In that create branch dialog menu, you will have the option to branch from your default branch or your currently checked out branch (your other user’s branch)

[billygriffin]

Since we’ve shipped the branch creation from previous commits to beta and you’re able to open remote branches in Desktop and @danielb987 said his use case is satisfied with the earlier one, I’m going to close this. Obviously if we hear strong desire for this from the dotcom side we can revisit, but in the interest of prioritizing just want to make sure we’re trying to solve the most important problems. Thanks y’all.