git on UNC path
First open a windows console, Run->cmd
pushd \\172.158.1.254\network_usb
now you should be able to 'cd' through all the directories on the drive. Optionally you can type a
git init --bare nameOfnewRepo.git
somewhere.
popd
Now open git bash and cd to the location where you want to clone the repo on the network drive
git clone //172.158.1.254/network_usb/pathto/nameOfnewRepo.git
Note that in git bash the slashes are forward and in the windows console backward.
This worked for me:
git.exe clone "d:/dev/SDK" "//comp1/Proj/git/SDK/"
Just use the UNC path - git
doesn't care what cmd
can and cannot do.
Old answer: Bind the UNC path to a drive letter (or use a directory symlink).
As Konstantin said, "//comp1/Proj/git/SDK/" works fine as a UNC path.
Others mentioned poor performance using a remote file system, which I cannot reproduce. Cloning the same repo took 3min45 through encrypted VPN file system access and 3min25 through unencrypted HTTP (Bonobo Git Server). The secure channel + windows authentication for repo access is certainly worth the extra 10%.
Note that Cygwin's "git" command does not work with this remote path. The git.exe that comes bundled with GitExtensions works fine, VS2015 works fine too.