GUI fails to start as it cannot use the defined shell

[L-GASC]

Existing issues matching what you're seeing

• I was not able to find an open or closed issue matching what I'm seeing

Git for Windows version

git version 2.52.0.windows.1
cpu: x86_64
built from commit: 2912d8e9b8253723974b7baf1c890273b1a1c5bd
sizeof-long: 4
sizeof-size_t: 8
shell-path: D:/git-sdk-64-build-installers/usr/bin/sh
rust: disabled
feature: fsmonitor--daemon
libcurl: 8.17.0
OpenSSL: OpenSSL 3.5.4 30 Sep 2025
zlib: 1.3.1
SHA-1: SHA1_DC
SHA-256: SHA256_BLK
default-ref-format: files
default-hash: sha1

Windows version

Windows 11

Windows CPU architecture

x86_64 (64-bit)

Additional Windows version information

Microsoft Windows [version 10.0.26100.7462]

Options set during installation

Editor Option: VIM
Custom Editor Path:
Default Branch Option:
Path Option: Cmd
SSH Option: OpenSSH
Tortoise Option: false
CURL Option: WinSSL
CRLF Option: LFOnly
Bash Terminal Option: MinTTY
Git Pull Behavior Option: FFOnly
Use Credential Manager: Enabled
Performance Tweaks FSCache: Enabled
Enable Symlinks: Disabled
Enable FSMonitor: Disabled

Other interesting things

My Windows username contains characters such as spaces and · (Middle Dot).

Terminal/shell

<Not Applicable (it actually run fine in all four CLI: CMD; PowerShell; Git Bash; and Git CMD)>

Commands that trigger the issue

git-gui.exe

or click the shortcut shown in the Windows Start Menu

Expected behaviour

Git GUI should start with the defined shell, or at least (if not usable) point the user toward the configuration file.

Actual behaviour

Git GUI fails to starts with the following error pop-up:

git-gui: configuration error

The defined shell ('C:/Users/%USERNAME%/AppData/Local/Programs/Git/usr/bin/sh.exe') is not usable, it must be an absolute path to an executable.

Repository

No response

[dscho]

User-wide installations are not supported by the Git for Windows project. If you do not install into C:\Program Files\Git, you are essentially on your own.