Performing VCS Refresh... (Takes too long or never finishes)

Just ran into this issue on WebStorm 2016.1 on Windows 8.1. What fixed it for me is deleting the vcs-log directory. I also have IntelliJ Community Edition installed which didn't have this problem at the time so I figured it must be an issue with the application settings (hidden directory in home folder) not the project specific settings (.idea folder in the project directory).

Close IntelliJ/Webstorm and go to your home folder, you'll find a hidden directory there where IntelliJ/Webstorm keeps it's configuration. (The name of this hidden directory depends on the application name (IntelliJ/PHPStorm/Webstorm) and it's version:

C:\Users\{ your user name of pc }\.WebStorm2016.1

Inside there is a system folder which in turn has a vcs-log folder.

C:\Users\{ your user name of pc }\.WebStorm2016.1\system\vcs-log

Delete or rename the vcs-log folder and restart the application and everything should return to normal.

What is the work around so I can commit again from IntelliJ

On IntelliJ, not sure: older similar bugs have been closed (as "obsolete"), like IDEA-63491

A more recent one (IDEA-93086) states:

It works again after a fresh checkout.

As a workaround, the solution would be to push from the command-line (so outside IntelliJ).

In IntelliJ navigate to:

File > Invalidate Caches / Restart...

and select the highlighted:

Invalidate and Restart