Git bash Error: Could not fork child process: There are no available terminals (-1)

Question

I have had up to 8 git bash terminals running at the same time before.

Currently I have only 2 up.

I have not seen this error before and I am not understanding what is causing it.

Any help would be appreciated!

Picture attached:

-1 to all current answers. All variations of "just kill terminal and start again". What's the underlying problem? Why can't I have 100 terminals? — RJFalconer, Aug 16 '18 at 15:53
related: https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/910 and https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/1200 — RJFalconer, Aug 16 '18 at 16:07
I've had this issue for _such_ a long time and never been able to get to the bottom of it. It seems to be applications that are left open which can cause some handles to remain open, but in my case the bash processes were being closed and there are no ssh processes around (I'm using `mosh`). I've just been able to replicate the issue by launching vscode using `vscode .` and then closing the terminal used to open it. While the vscode window stays open it seems Cygwin doesn't want to open more terminals, as soon as I close it, it works. — Elven Spellmaker, Nov 22 '18 at 18:34
@ElvenSpellmaker you're right, it has to do with `code .` in my case as well. — Bilal Khoukhi, Jan 05 '19 at 22:11
Just for the sake of confirmation: Encountered the problem today, was also due to `code .` in my case. Closing VS Code cleared the issue. Great find @ElvenSpellmaker — kb., Mar 17 '19 at 19:05
For me also it was due to code . Closing it it will solve the issue. — Donald Shahini, Sep 24 '19 at 08:36
I'm using `msys2` and had to kill three processes using Windows Task-Manager. I identified them by their commandline. — Bernhard Döbler, Sep 17 '20 at 19:11

score 92 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

92

Found a similar issue and solution in google groups

I opened a windows command prompt and ran the command
$ tasklist
It looks as though the ssh connections I had made in my git bash shells weren't being closed when those windows were closed and were hanging the available git bash shell windows.

This may be a dangerous solution but from the windows command prompt I ran
$ taskkill /F /IM ssh.exe 
Everything appears to be working again after this. It may not have directly been an issue of orphan processes, but this worked for at least for me.

Additional note: you can also kill other processes, for example like:

$ taskkill /F /IM vim.exe

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Aug 21 '17 at 18:59

Scott Newson

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I will give this a try shortly! I am just afraid to kill off some tasks while i have some things running – A. Petrizza Aug 23 '17 at 16:13
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This procedure worked, although in my case the culprits were `node.exe` (Node.js) and `link.exe` (GNU link). So you may have to hunt through the tasklist for the guilty processes. I'm not sure why, but it does seem like programs launched from inside Bash sessions can somehow out-live their parent shell. – mamacdon Aug 28 '17 at 19:06
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Thank you scott, this procedure worked by as mentioned by @mamacdon even in my case culprits was node.exe. – S52 Oct 06 '17 at 16:18
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For me, I had to perform "taskkill /F /IM ssh-agent.exe" but close enough for an up-vote. – Dylan Kapp Oct 12 '17 at 19:46
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I had to kill node.exe with the command `taskkill /F /IM node.exe` – Tarator Feb 15 '18 at 12:09
And I had to do `pm2 kill`. pm2 is a process manager for node. Now I start pm2 daemon in cmd.exe rather than git bash. – Zhiyong Mar 02 '18 at 05:59
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In my case (with Cygwin) it was a single adb.exe that was still running. Killing it solved. – Diego Andrade Jun 22 '18 at 18:54
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In my case, when using cmder it's "taskkill /F /IM conhost.exe" – japseow Mar 15 '19 at 00:28
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In my case it has been bash.exe, I killed them and I could get a git bash shell! Thanks!!! – SSG Jul 17 '19 at 10:12
In my case i had to close ssh.exe in task list. – Exceptional NullPointer Jul 21 '19 at 02:40
I had the same problem with cygwin terminals and solved it by killing ssh-pageant.exe. – mirus Jul 31 '19 at 12:31
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killed `gpg-agent.exe` for me – Ryan Schultz Oct 17 '19 at 15:46
In my case, killing `ssh-agent.exe` did the job. – erwineberhard Jul 01 '20 at 08:34
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for me it was `gpg-agent.exe` that was the culprint. – MLavrentyev Aug 01 '20 at 01:11
Example on how to list some running processes: `tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq no*"`. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (I still haven't found any easier solution than restarting my computer.) – Henke Nov 21 '20 at 17:27
Killed all bash.exe and ssh.exe processes, still happens. – PeterT Feb 03 '21 at 18:51

score 72 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 26 '20 at 14:04

72

In my case, it was related with the use of VS code. Previously I have opened VS code using a git bash terminal and executing

code .

then closing the terminal.

The problem is solved by closing all the VS code windows opened.

When you have any editor or IDE configure to open a terminal as git bash, then when the IDE/IDE is running, the git bash will spin up bash from "C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe" and any other attempt to open bash from a separate window is likely to crash.

The best solution is to kill the IDE/Editor bash and open from a new window or continue from the IDE/Editor command.

edited Feb 26 '20 at 14:04

A. Petrizza

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answered Sep 10 '19 at 14:42

Federico Caccia

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Thanks, it was the same problem with me – Tarun Nagpal Oct 13 '19 at 10:16
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Worked like a charm! Thanks! – jrend Jan 10 '20 at 17:54
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Had the same problem. Should just open vs code in cmd. – Richard Feb 18 '20 at 20:49
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Exactly the same problem. Thanks. – SHUMING LU Apr 07 '20 at 05:28
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exactly same issue. Thank you anyways. – amar deep Jun 16 '20 at 16:56
Rather than closing all the VSCode windows - which can set you back - I was able to relaunch Git Bash by just trashing (clicking on the trash icon rather than just closing) the integrated terminal in VSCode. Then you can launch Git Bash as a separate process. Afterwards, you shouldn't get the error in the integrated terminal when you ctrl + ~ to open a new one either. – chrisz Jul 05 '20 at 19:12
Thanks, in my case it's the terminal in IntelliJ. – user3381650 Oct 06 '20 at 03:13
I don't use VSCode, still have this issue. – PeterT Feb 03 '21 at 18:51

score 65 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 23 '17 at 18:24

65

I see the problem on windows in git bash when I kill my git bash console without using exit. I found killing ssh-agent.exe task from windows task manager to fix the problem.

answered Aug 23 '17 at 18:24

Joe z

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This worked initially. Now I still get it, even after killing ssh-agent.exe. – Leo Nov 12 '17 at 02:01
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this is a short term solution. the problem returns eventually. hoping there is a more permanent way to fix this issue – Sonic Soul May 08 '19 at 17:15
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I also found that Node sometimes is left running as well, just killing that seemed to solve the issue for me. – MusicDev Aug 07 '19 at 04:17
after killing the process "sh.exe", the issue resolved. Thanks all. – maris Jan 06 '20 at 10:01

score 35 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 06 '18 at 10:32

35

I address this with a workaround:

Close the Git Bash window.
Open Task manager.
Find the 'Git for Windows' process.
Kill it.
Open Git Bash.

It should be ok now.

answered Feb 06 '18 at 10:32

Return_Of_The_Archons

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easiest solution. So straightforward. – JkAlombro Mar 27 '19 at 02:25
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In my case, I had bash.exe running, and just kill it. – Gilberto Albino Sep 23 '19 at 14:18
I tried this. It did not work for me. Restarting the computer helped. – Henke Nov 21 '20 at 17:15

klimat · Answer 5 · 2019-02-22T10:27:57.077

8

To make life easier (this problems happens quite often) create a file called fixbash.bat in home directory and paste this:

taskkill /F /IM ssh-agent.exe

When problem occurs just open cmd and type fixbash.bat to fix a problem.

Or

Just paste the taskkill command into your cmd if you don't want to create a script.

edited Feb 22 '19 at 10:27

answered Aug 10 '18 at 13:04

klimat

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returns: `ERROR: The process "ssh-agent.exe" not found.` – Jesse Reza Khorasanee Aug 20 '19 at 00:10
This solution worked for me . However you have to go to the task manager and kill all ssh-agent.exe as there can be many – Java Main Apr 21 '20 at 09:26

score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 16 '17 at 16:05

7

Restart your machine.

(The other answers did not work for me. (I didn't try reinstalling. Restarting is probably faster.))

answered Nov 16 '17 at 16:05

andydavies

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And if that doesn't work, reinstall your machine, or buy a new one. – john16384 Sep 17 '19 at 07:16

score 7 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 28 '18 at 09:59

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This happens when you exit git bash without terminating existing process. Just try and kill those processes that you started from git bash. I was running node process inside git bash, so I killed all node processes Steps to kill

Open Task Manager
Goto Details Tab
Look for node.exe(you look for you processes)
Kill it each and every node process
Open Git Bash again

answered Dec 28 '18 at 09:59

Ishan

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In my case it was `adb shell`. So I ran `adb kill-server` in an already open window and it fixed that for me. +1 – lucidbrot May 16 '19 at 17:00
Worked. But what the hell... I havent done any node.js in months.... Why was it running? – twitchdotcom slash KANJICODER Dec 19 '19 at 05:40

score 6 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 06 '18 at 02:43

For me (or anyone running protractor, which may spin up a standalone Selenium/WebDriver server), I needed to taskkill the specific webdriver which was running my tests.

So just a different argument: or your chromedriver version may vary

taskkill /f /im chromedriver_2.34.exe

Note your driver may vary: IEDriverServer*.*.*.exe vs chromedriver_*.**exe

Your driver may version may vary:chromedriver_2.34.exe vs chromedriver_2.33.exe

This problem got worse after protractor quit without closing the automated /test-driven browser, (due to a separate issue I don't yet understand.) Naturally many chromedriver tasks remain running, that's why kill them.

Yep, this was my problem. I have convenience script that uses Selenium to fetch some stuff from some web sites where curl and wget cannot be used due to having to process JavaScript. Anyway, I usually run this once in the morning and sometimes it gets hung up. I never made the correlation with this cygwin error until I saw this post, so THANKS! I'm going to update the script that calls selenium to kill the chromedriver.exe process before exiting. — beaudet, Sep 26 '18 at 18:37

score 6 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 16 '18 at 15:29

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Open task manager and kill process with name bash, this worked for me.

answered Jul 16 '18 at 15:29

Hari

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Sonic Soul · Answer 10 · 2019-05-14T15:07:09.953

finally figured out what was causing this.

if we use code like this (explicitly or implicitly) i.e. in .bashrc file

eval $(ssh-agent -s)
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

it spawns a new process.

if you don't exit it and just close the window, that process is still running. so each new bash opened just keeps adding new ones w/out disposing old ones.

when done with a bash window, simply hit ctrl+d or type exit to kill the agent process, and you should not run out of forks.

score 4 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 16 '20 at 19:21

4

In my Case I need to kill Git bash in Windows. So opened Command Prompt and ran below command

$ tasklist

It will list down all running tasks, then need to kill bash.exe task using below command

$ taskkill /F /IM bash.exe

answered Mar 16 '20 at 19:21

Vatsal Shah

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process bash.exe not found. It's something beyond some stray exe hanging around. – Larry_C Jul 28 '20 at 17:56

score 3 · Answer 12 · edited Oct 12 '18 at 14:39

Seems to be an issue with the processes launched from the git bash indeed, like @mamacdon suggested in his comment on the top answer by @Scott Newson.

For me, the issue appeared if I launched a vscode from the bash with code, and if this instance of vscode launched an integrated git terminal while the original bash was still running.

Doesn't matter whether that terminal was launched at the start or later, as long as it was while the original bash was still running.

Didn't happen when the bash was closed before the integrated terminal was opened. Didn't differentiate between exit and closing bash via windows. Didn't happen with another older bash window still running.

The way to deal with it was for me to close the terminals in vscode with exit or 'Kill Terminal' (be careful not to mix that up with 'close pane'), or of course, closing vscode itself.

If you get this error try to remember what you launched from the bash and kill it. If the other answers worked for you, it's probably just that these are the things launched by your bash or launched by processes you launched from the bash and they somehow were getting a child of your original bash.

score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 05 '19 at 10:58

If you are using Visual Studio Code and you can't find ssh-agent.exe or can't taskkill it and after opening Git Bash you get that error, just go to your VSCode open Terminal>New Terminal and just press the trashbin icon the (Kill Terminal). e.g (1:bash) if you got multiple then just kill them all and you should be good.

score 2 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 14 '18 at 05:44

2

Open your Task manager, search "sh" procces and kill them. Good luck

answered Apr 14 '18 at 05:44

Grace Nikole

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score 2 · Answer 15 · answered Jan 08 '20 at 14:00

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Im my case, the solution was to close Visual Studio Code -where I had console running too without noticing-

After closing it all back to normal. Hope this helps someone.

answered Jan 08 '20 at 14:00

Herzlin

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score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Feb 02 '18 at 10:01

1

I tried to kill all my git terminals in task manager solves the problem. This works for me too. good luck.

answered Feb 02 '18 at 10:01

Rahul Naiknaware

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score 1 · Answer 17 · answered May 09 '18 at 20:08

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On a more recent version of git for windows, the process to kill in task manager was "GitExtensions.exe". Killed that and the terminals restarted with no issues.

answered May 09 '18 at 20:08

Joe Shelby

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Sohan Jangid · Answer 18 · 2018-05-31T12:23:23.723

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Please find the ssh-agent process in the Task Manager window. After you stop or kill the ssh-agent process the error will disappear.

edited May 31 '18 at 12:23

answered May 31 '18 at 12:12

Sohan Jangid

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score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Sep 15 '18 at 01:29

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In my case I had visual studio code running and closing it resolved the issue.

answered Sep 15 '18 at 01:29

mhand

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Not sure why this is getting downvoted, worked for me. Also, visual studio code can have generate terminals so it's not surprising it could effect this issue. – Jesse Reza Khorasanee Aug 20 '19 at 00:13

score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Aug 19 '19 at 06:55

Windows 10 this worked for me:

1) open cmd as administrator

2) type:

taskkill /f /im git-bash.exe

3) If there was an Error: The process "ssh-agent.exe" not found. then:

type:

tasklist

4) Find and kill every process with words like "bash" or "git" (This may be a dangerous solution, but once you will find the process name, next time you will know.)

taskkill /f /im ***.exe

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Mar 16 '20 at 08:56

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For windows, in task-manager kill sh.exe.

answered Mar 16 '20 at 08:56

Gürcan Kavakçı

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score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Jul 23 '20 at 02:47

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In my case, I needed to kill sh.exe taskkill /F /IM sh.exe

answered Jul 23 '20 at 02:47

Sharon

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score 0 · Answer 23 · edited Sep 18 '17 at 10:25

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Reinstalled git, it is now working fine.

edited Sep 18 '17 at 10:25

Deckerz

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answered Sep 18 '17 at 09:37

prathesh p

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score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Oct 17 '17 at 07:43

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i found that killing msys2 terminal in task manager solves the problem

answered Oct 17 '17 at 07:43

user2293554

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score 0 · Answer 25 · answered Aug 17 '18 at 15:10

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Open Task manager, find bash.exe process and kill it. Helped in my case.

answered Aug 17 '18 at 15:10

Bahti

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score 0 · Answer 26 · answered May 15 '20 at 14:55

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In my case, I had a stray abd.exe that was still open in task manager. Killing it fixed the issue.

answered May 15 '20 at 14:55

cag8f

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I can reboot and launching git-bash still produces the error. – Larry_C Jul 28 '20 at 17:55

piedramania · Answer 27 · 2021-04-05T14:16:54.490

In my case the problem was the file [git_install_dir]/etc/nsswitch.conf

I previously followed the instructions given here: https://cygwin.com/faq.html#faq.using.startup-slow. But this caused the "Could not fork" error instead. My wrong nsswitch.conf file was:

passwd: files
group: files

So I restored the file and problem solved. Now my [git_install_dir]/etc/nsswitch.conf is:

passwd: files db
group: files # db
db_enum: cache builtin
db_home: env windows cygwin desc
db_shell: env windows # cygwin desc
db_gecos: env # cygwin desc

score 0 · Answer 28 · answered May 29 '21 at 13:35

0

if you have another terminal session of VS code opened,just close it and try again, it will work fine.

answered May 29 '21 at 13:35

Salim Nadji

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score -1 · Answer 29 · answered Mar 11 '19 at 06:09

-1

In system bash type:

ps

Kill any bad looking process:

kill -9 <ID>

Worked for me.

answered Mar 11 '19 at 06:09

Damian Czapiewski

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score -1 · Answer 30 · answered Apr 16 '19 at 10:37

-1

Just Restart Your Machine, While Restarting our machine this issue is solved try it.

answered Apr 16 '19 at 10:37

Akshay Salvi

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lol I did the same, the solution sounds pretty silly, but it works just fine :) – zeroDivider Nov 23 '19 at 06:33
Or you can spend 10 minutes sorting through a tasklist w/500 items. The .bashrc command seems like the culprit – Larry_C Jul 28 '20 at 18:00

Git bash Error: Could not fork child process: There are no available terminals (-1)

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