Are you frustrated with the “authentication failed” error on git while trying to connect to a SquareSpace site in Developer Mode?
I know how you feel: I was pulling my hair out over this same problem a few short weeks ago. It was particularly annoying because I had connected successfully in the past, and I was using the very same credentials that worked back then.
Ugh!
Fortunately for you, I discovered the fix, and it’s pretty darn simple. Ready to get back to work?
The secret to getting SquareSpace’s git working again after an authentication failed error
Start your timer: you should be able to follow these steps and get successfully connected in a couple of minutes! ?
1. Generate a SquareSpace app password for git.
- From your SquareSpace account dashboard, hover over your initials in the top righthand corner of the page. In the menu that appears, click on Account & Security.
- In the Account & Security modal window, click “App Passwords”.
- Click the “Generate Password” link
- A new window will pop up asking you to verify your account password. Enter it and click Continue.
- Choose a label for your new password (I called mine “git”). Click Continue.
- Your new app password appears on the screen. Make sure you save a copy of it now; you will not be able to access it again later!
2. Attempt to connect to SquareSpace’s git server again, but this time, use your newly generated app password instead of your SquareSpace account password.
3. Celebrate!
Wondering why the “sudden” change in the ability to authenticate?
Have you recently turned on two-factor authentication for your SquareSpace account? The need for an app password is related to 2FA. Git (ie: the binary itself) isn’t set up to work with normal two-factor authentication—where you enter a one-time passcode to verify your identity—so generating an app password that bypasses this step is necessary.
Did this fix your git authentication problem? Let me know in the comments!
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Lifesaving tip. Thanks.
I’m glad it helped you!
Megan, thanks for the helpful article!
It seems I can’t get a prompt to enter my login and password after I attempt to clone my template (typing in “git clone [your-repository.git]”). In other words, how do I implement the step 2 from your tutorial if I get the “fatal: Authentication failed for [your-repository.git]” without a chance to use my new generated password?
I have the same problem. Did you get an answer to this?
Hey Virginia, check the next comment down – he left his solution there. 🙂
Megan, sorry for disturbing!
Another bit of time digging the web and I’ve come to the solution.
My system is Windows 7 and to get rid of old credentials one needs to go to the Windows Credential control panel at Control Panel\User Accounts\Credential Manager.
Then Git would show a prompt to enter a login and a password.
Thanks again for the article.
You’re welcome, George! Glad you got it figured out, and thanks for posting the solution for anyone else who may have this same issue. 🙂
Hello,
I had the same issues as you where I accessed dev mode in the past but now I can’t. I do not have 2-factor authentication on but I still tried your method and it still didn’t work for me as I am getting the same error. Do you think this could be tied to anything else? I am updating my windows credentials each time to ensure an old password isn’t being automatically used as well. Any leads or ideas would be helpful, Thank you!
Hi! Unfortunately, I don’t have any concrete fixes; I develop on Mac vs Windows, so it may be an OS thing. Maybe try turning on 2-factor auth and using the app password?