I had the same problem while using GitHub desktop. The way to solve is:
- Open repository folder in explorer
- Delete or rename the repository folder
- File -> clone repository and choose the right one
- Repeat step 1
- Copy your project to the folder
- Click "fetch origin"
GitHub
github.com › desktop › desktop › issues › 10080
Cannot see files uploaded to repo and cannot merge with desktop. · Issue #10080 · desktop/desktop
June 24, 2020 - Describe the bug Will not merge the repo with my desktop version. Version & OS Version 2.5.3 / Window 10 Steps to reproduce the behavior Open repo in desktop app. Click on "Pull Origin" Notice mess...
Author desktop
Top answer 1 of 2
6
I had the same problem while using GitHub desktop. The way to solve is:
- Open repository folder in explorer
- Delete or rename the repository folder
- File -> clone repository and choose the right one
- Repeat step 1
- Copy your project to the folder
- Click "fetch origin"
2 of 2
5
go to root of your working code and locate and delete .git folder it will disconnect your code from exiting git repository
login to github and delete your existing repository / rename repository to new name
create a new repository with existing repository name and push your code to this repository.
"refusing to merge unrelated histories" with initial repository
Description There's a corner case where your local repository and remote repository can have distinct histories (because they were initialized with their own commit). We should surface this err... More on github.com
10
May 16, 2017unable to merge unrelated histories
unable to merge unrelated histories in this repository More on github.com
2
September 15, 2019'Unable to merge unrelated histories in this repository'
Trying to jump back in, but I'm not able to update my local repository with the GitHub desktop client—sorry for such a basic request, but can someone give me a hand with this? More on github.com
2
July 28, 2017Merging unrelated histories
Since you changed the original commit with your ament, it makes sense to force push now, as you wanted to change the original commit. git push --force-with-lease More on reddit.com
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6
November 21, 202002:20
Git refusing to merge unrelated histories on rebase - YouTube
02:03
fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories #git #gitissue #gitfix ...
13:09
Resolving Code Merge with Github Desktop 🤯 | Super Easy Beginners ...
15:54
GIT - Unrelated Histories #VisualGit - YouTube
07:23
Git Error Explained: fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories ...
GitHub
github.com › desktop › desktop › issues › 1484
"refusing to merge unrelated histories" with initial repository · Issue #1484 · desktop/desktop
May 16, 2017 - Description There's a corner case where your local repository and remote repository can have distinct histories (because they were initialized with their own commit). We should surface this err...
Author desktop
GitHub
github.com › orgs › community › discussions › 132189
Merging a second branch with the main branch · community · Discussion #132189
July 14, 2024 - Merge help needed, considering force push. I am new to Github. I a recently made a branch and have done a ton of work on the second branch but it will not merge with my main branch. I get the error...
Git Tower
git-tower.com › learn › git faq › how to fix "fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories" in git
How to Fix "fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories" in Git | Learn Version Control with Git
1 day ago - Git will display this error message if you try to merge two different projects. Fortunately, there is a command available to fix this issue!
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › git › how-to-fix-git-refusing-to-merge-unrelated-histories
How to Fix Git “Refusing to Merge Unrelated Histories”? - GeeksforGeeks
July 23, 2025 - Your All-in-One Learning Portal. It contains well written, well thought and well explained computer science and programming articles, quizzes and practice/competitive programming/company interview Questions.
OneUptime
oneuptime.com › home › blog › how to fix 'fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories'
How to Fix 'Fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories'
January 24, 2026 - Learn why git refuses to merge unrelated histories and how to safely combine repositories that do not share a common ancestor.
GitHub
github.com › desktop › desktop › issues › 8279
unable to merge unrelated histories · Issue #8279 · desktop/desktop
September 15, 2019 - unable to merge unrelated histories in this repository
Author desktop
GitHub
gist.github.com › kingluddite › 7ec82fdfa3700427efa0e5b97196dea6
unrelated-histories.md · GitHub
GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
Baeldung
baeldung.com › home › git › how to fix git “refusing to merge unrelated histories”
How to Fix Git “Refusing to Merge Unrelated Histories” | Baeldung on Ops
February 6, 2024 - Learn how to fix the "Refusing to Merge Unrelated Histories" error in Git.
GitHub
github.com › PageBot › PageBot › issues › 37
'Unable to merge unrelated histories in this repository' · Issue #37 · PageBot/PageBot
July 28, 2017 - Trying to jump back in, but I'm not able to update my local repository with the GitHub desktop client—sorry for such a basic request, but can someone give me a hand with this?
Author PageBot
DEV Community
dev.to › omesha › solving-the-error-fatal-refusing-to-merge-unrelated-histories-491h
Solving the Error - "fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories" - DEV Community
July 20, 2025 - This is an error that I encountered while I was trying to merge the two branches main and master. So...
Komodor
komodor.com › home › articles › how to fix ‘fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories’ git error
How to fix 'fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories' Git error
September 15, 2025 - Understand and learn how to quickly fix the 'fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories' Git error.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/git › merging unrelated histories
r/git on Reddit: Merging unrelated histories
November 21, 2020 -
I created the following repository on GitHub: https://github.com/james/test.git.
Then I proceeded with:
user@guest:~/.../gits$ git config --global init.defaultBranch main user@guest:~/.../gits$ mkdir test && cd test user@guest:~/.../test$ echo "# test" >> README.md user@guest:~/.../test$ git init user@guest:~/.../test$ git add README.md user@guest:~/.../test$ git commit -m "First commit" user@guest:~/.../test$ git remote add origin https://github.com/james/test.git user@guest:~/.../test$ git push -u origin main
And then:
user@guest:~/.../test$ git commit --amend user@guest:~/.../test$ git log --oneline --graph --all * ca82a6d (HEAD -> main) First commit * 085bb3b (origin/main) First commit user@guest:~/.../test$ git merge origin/main fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories
What did I do wrong and what is the best solution in this case?
Top answer 1 of 5
3
Since you changed the original commit with your ament, it makes sense to force push now, as you wanted to change the original commit. git push --force-with-lease
2 of 5
3
The problem comes from the fact that amending a commit changes the hash, and this is your first commit, so there's no related point on the tree. I'll try to explain Every commit has a hash used as Id and when you change your commit on any way (like a rebase or an amend) it changes too. Every tree has an initial commit which is the start of the history for that repository. Every other commit on every branch will have this initial commit as common ancestor. When trying the merge, git tries to find a way to place your new set of commits somewhere on the tree but, since you just changed the root (first) commit it won't find any common ancestor. That's what "unrelated histories" means. Also, that's why you should never change a commit after it was pushed to a remote, even if it's not the first commit (it's not impossible, but everyone's life will be easier). As commented by others, in your case you can just force the merge and everything should be fine.
Graphite
graphite.com › guides › how-to-resolve-git-error-refusing-to-merge-unrelated-histories
How to resolve the Git error "refusing to merge unrelated histories"
Learn how to resolve the Git error "refusing to merge unrelated histories" with detailed steps and examples.
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 70777472 › how-to-correct-unable-to-merge-unrelated-histories
github - How to correct «unable to merge unrelated histories»? - Stack Overflow
I use github desktop (https://desktop.github.com ) while developing the application with several other people, so, for some reason, when trying to merge two branches into one, the error "unabl...
Top answer 1 of 16
4460
You can use --allow-unrelated-histories to force the merge to happen.
The reason behind this is that default behavior has changed since Git 2.9:
"git merge" used to allow merging two branches that have no common base by default, which led to a brand new history of an existing project created and then get pulled by an unsuspecting maintainer, which allowed an unnecessary parallel history merged into the existing project. The command has been taught not to allow this by default, with an escape hatch
--allow-unrelated-historiesoption to be used in a rare event that merges histories of two projects that started their lives independently.
See the Git release changelog for more information.
More information can be found in this answer.
2 of 16
2121
In my case, the error was just fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories on every try, especially the first pull request after remotely adding a Git repository.
Using the --allow-unrelated-histories flag worked with a pull request in this way:
git pull origin branchname --allow-unrelated-histories
As per 2.9.0 release notes - git pull has been taught to pass the --allow-unrelated-histories option to underlying git merge
Educative
educative.io › answers › the-fatal-refusing-to-merge-unrelated-histories-git-error
The “fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories” Git error
The “fatal: refusing to merge ... when two unrelated projects are merged (i.e., projects that are not aware of each other’s existence and have mismatching commit histories). Consider the following two cases that throw this error: You have cloned a project and, somehow, the .git directory got deleted or corrupted. This leads Git to be unaware of your local history and will, therefore, cause it to throw this error when you try to push to or pull from the remote repository...
YouTube
youtube.com › gina sprint
How to Fix the Git Error "fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories." - YouTube
In this video I explain why you are getting the "fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories" Git error when you try to push to Github and I show you two wa...
Published February 9, 2020 Views 1K