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.

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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.