"fatal: Could not write a new index file" on Windows 10

Description

I get this error when attempting to commit. I can start from scratch with a new clone of an entire repo, but it eventually comes back again.

It’s happened with various repositories, and on my previous Windows 7 Ultimate installation.

I’ve tried to delete the .git/index file, but then it shows that all the files in my repo are brand new. That’s not going to work.

If I restore an older version of the .git/index file, I still get the same error on committing.

My workaround each time has been to start over from scratch, cloning the github.com repo down to my machine, and re-implementing all the changes I had made since my last successful commit and push.

I additionally find I often need to uninstall and reinstall GitHub Desktop to get it to commit without error.

Version

• GitHub Desktop for Windows 1.4.3 64 bit

• Operating system: Windows 10 Pro

Additional Information

Logs

2018-10-30T15:58:29.041Z - info: [ui] Background fetch for 3 repositories took 2.028sec 2018-10-30T16:02:09.254Z - info: [ui] Executing fetch: git -c credential.helper= fetch --progress --prune origin (took 3.395s) 2018-10-30T16:13:30.883Z - info: [ui] Background fetch for 3 repositories took 1.837sec 2018-10-30T16:18:07.639Z - info: [ui] [AppStore] loading 3 repositories from store 2018-10-30T16:18:07.641Z - info: [ui] [AppStore] found account: MarkerB (Mark Bernard) 2018-10-30T16:18:08.096Z - info: [ui] launching: 1.4.3 (Windows 10.0.16299) 2018-10-30T16:18:08.097Z - info: [ui] execPath: ‘C:\Users\mark\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\app-1.4.3\GitHubDesktop.exe’ 2018-10-30T16:18:09.081Z - info: [ui] Executing installGlobalLFSFilter: git lfs install --skip-repo (took 1.137s) 2018-10-30T16:18:16.401Z - error: [ui] git reset -- . exited with an unexpected code: 128. Unstaged changes after reset: M xxxxxxx_archive.php M functions/xxx/xxxmisc.php

fatal: Could not write new index file.

[Abesuden]

I had the same issue but my solution was to close my VS Code program (I had the GitHub Repo loaded in the side panel). I guess it ties up the GitHub Desktop and causes this type of issue.

[MarkerB]

Thanks man, you right Google Backup and Sync suck 😕

It’s probably not that simple. It seems more likely it’s just an unfortunate interaction between GitHub and Google and creative methods they use to keep track of things.