Introduction

The error "Cannot determine the organization name for this 'dev.azure.com' remote URL" occurs when Git credential helpers or Azure DevOps CLI tools cannot parse the organization name from your repository's remote URL. This typically happens when the URL format is incorrect, the remote was configured with the legacy visualstudio.com format, or the Git credential manager is outdated. The fix involves correcting the remote URL format, updating the credential manager, or reconfiguring authentication.

Expected URL Formats

1# New format (dev.azure.com) — recommended
2https://dev.azure.com/{organization}/{project}/_git/{repository}
3
4# Example
5https://dev.azure.com/mycompany/myproject/_git/myrepo
6
7# Legacy format (visualstudio.com) — still works but may cause issues
8https://mycompany.visualstudio.com/myproject/_git/myrepo
9
10# SSH format
11[email protected]:v3/{organization}/{project}/{repository}

The organization name must be the first path segment after dev.azure.com. If it is missing or the URL structure is malformed, tools cannot determine which Azure DevOps organization to authenticate against.

Fix 1: Correct the Remote URL

1# Check your current remote URL
2git remote -v
3# origin  https://dev.azure.com/_git/myrepo (fetch)  <-- WRONG: missing org/project
4
5# Set the correct URL with organization and project
6git remote set-url origin https://dev.azure.com/mycompany/myproject/_git/myrepo
7
8# Verify the change
9git remote -v
10# origin  https://dev.azure.com/mycompany/myproject/_git/myrepo (fetch)
11# origin  https://dev.azure.com/mycompany/myproject/_git/myrepo (push)

The most common cause is a malformed URL missing the organization or project segments. Re-clone or update the remote URL to include both.

Fix 2: Migrate from visualstudio.com to dev.azure.com

1# Check if you're using the legacy URL
2git remote -v
3# origin  https://mycompany.visualstudio.com/myproject/_git/myrepo
4
5# Update to the new format
6git remote set-url origin https://dev.azure.com/mycompany/myproject/_git/myrepo
7
8# For SSH
9git remote set-url origin [email protected]:v3/mycompany/myproject/myrepo

Microsoft migrated Azure DevOps from *.visualstudio.com to dev.azure.com. Older repositories may still use the legacy URL, which some newer tools do not recognize.

Fix 3: Update Git Credential Manager

1# Check GCM version
2git credential-manager --version
3
4# Update on Windows (via winget)
5winget upgrade Git.Git
6
7# Update on macOS (via Homebrew)
8brew upgrade git-credential-manager
9
10# Update on Linux
11# Download latest from https://github.com/git-ecosystem/git-credential-manager/releases
12sudo dpkg -i gcm-linux_amd64.*.deb
13
14# Reconfigure after updating
15git credential-manager configure

Git Credential Manager (GCM) parses the remote URL to determine the authentication provider. Older versions may not handle the dev.azure.com URL format correctly.

Fix 4: Configure Credential Manager for Azure DevOps

1# Set the credential provider for Azure DevOps
2git config --global credential.https://dev.azure.com.useHttpPath true
3
4# Or configure the authority for Azure DevOps
5git config --global credential.https://dev.azure.com.provider azure-repos
6
7# If using PAT (Personal Access Token), you can set it directly
8git config --global credential.https://dev.azure.com.helper manager
9
10# Clear cached credentials and re-authenticate
11git credential-manager erase <<EOF
12protocol=https
13host=dev.azure.com
14EOF
15
16# Next git operation will prompt for credentials
17git fetch

Setting useHttpPath = true tells GCM to use the full URL path (including the organization) when looking up credentials, which resolves ambiguity when you work with multiple Azure DevOps organizations.

Fix 5: Azure CLI Authentication

1# Login to Azure CLI
2az login
3
4# Set the default organization
5az devops configure --defaults organization=https://dev.azure.com/mycompany
6
7# Verify configuration
8az devops configure --list
9
10# Clone using Azure CLI auth
11az repos clone --repository myrepo --project myproject

The Azure CLI can handle authentication independently of Git credential managers. Setting the default organization resolves the "cannot determine" error for az commands.

Fix 6: SSH Configuration

1# ~/.ssh/config
2Host ssh.dev.azure.com
3    HostName ssh.dev.azure.com
4    User git
5    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
6    IdentitiesOnly yes
7
8# Add SSH key to Azure DevOps
9# Go to: User Settings > SSH Public Keys > Add
10
11# Clone with SSH
12git clone [email protected]:v3/mycompany/myproject/myrepo
13
14# Switch existing remote to SSH
15git remote set-url origin [email protected]:v3/mycompany/myproject/myrepo

SSH avoids credential manager issues entirely. The organization, project, and repository are embedded in the SSH URL path.

Common Pitfalls

• Missing organization in URL path: URLs like https://dev.azure.com/_git/myrepo lack the organization segment. The correct format requires /{organization}/{project}/_git/{repo}.
• Mixed URL formats across remotes: Having origin with the new format and upstream with the legacy format confuses credential caching. Standardize all remotes to dev.azure.com.
• Outdated Git Credential Manager: GCM versions before 2.0.x do not support dev.azure.com properly. Update to the latest release from the git-ecosystem GitHub repository.
• Multiple Azure DevOps organizations: Without useHttpPath = true, GCM caches one set of credentials per host. If you work with multiple organizations on dev.azure.com, all repos share the same credentials, causing auth failures.
• Corporate proxy rewriting URLs: Some corporate proxies rewrite HTTPS URLs, stripping path segments. If the URL looks correct locally but fails, check proxy logs or use SSH to bypass the proxy.

Summary

• The error means tools cannot extract the organization name from the Git remote URL
• Verify the URL format is https://dev.azure.com/{org}/{project}/_git/{repo}
• Migrate legacy visualstudio.com URLs to the dev.azure.com format
• Update Git Credential Manager to the latest version
• Set credential.https://dev.azure.com.useHttpPath true for multi-org scenarios
• Use SSH as an alternative that avoids credential manager parsing issues