Git: Detached HEAD state for all projects after IDE update

Problem

After updating the IDE, for all projects, the Branches widget shows the Git: Detached HEAD state.

The following exception is shown in the idea.log:

2024-12-12 13:36:33,010 [12638504]   WARN - #git4idea.repo.GitRepositoryReader - unknown option `no-color' 
usage: git for-each-ref [options] [<pattern>] 

-s, --shell           quote placeholders suitably for shells 
-p, --perl            quote placeholders suitably for perl 
--python              quote placeholders suitably for python 
--tcl                 quote placeholders suitably for tcl 

--count <n>           show only <n> matched refs 
--format <format>     format to use for the output 
--sort <key>          field name to sort on 

com.intellij.openapi.vcs.VcsException: unknown option `no-color' 
usage: git for-each-ref [options] [<pattern>] 

-s, --shell           quote placeholders suitably for shells 
-p, --perl            quote placeholders suitably for perl 
--python              quote placeholders suitably for python 
--tcl                 quote placeholders suitably for tcl 

--count <n>           show only <n> matched refs 
--format <format>     format to use for the output 
--sort <key>          field name to sort on 

at git4idea.commands.GitCommandResult.throwOnError(GitCommandResult.java:172) 
at git4idea.repo.GitRepositoryReader.readBranchesFromGit(GitRepositoryReader.kt:240) 
at git4idea.repo.GitRepositoryReader.readState(GitRepositoryReader.kt:49) 
at git4idea.repo.GitRepositoryImpl.readRepoInfo(GitRepositoryImpl.kt:174) 
at git4idea.repo.GitRepositoryImpl.update(GitRepositoryImpl.kt:161) 
at git4idea.status.GitChangesCollector.getHead(GitChangesCollector.java:229) 
at git4idea.status.GitChangesCollector.collect(GitChangesCollector.java:53) 
at git4idea.status.GitChangeProvider.getChanges(GitChangeProvider.java:86) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListManagerImpl.actualUpdate(ChangeListManagerImpl.java:726) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListManagerImpl.iterateScopes(ChangeListManagerImpl.java:639) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListManagerImpl.lambda$updateImmediately$12(ChangeListManagerImpl.java:544) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.lambda$executeProcessUnderProgress$14(CoreProgressManager.java:674) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.registerIndicatorAndRun(CoreProgressManager.java:749) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.computeUnderProgress(CoreProgressManager.java:705) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.executeProcessUnderProgress(CoreProgressManager.java:673) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManagerImpl.java:79) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListManagerImpl.lambda$updateImmediately$15(ChangeListManagerImpl.java:543) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.util.BackgroundTaskUtil.lambda$runUnderDisposeAwareIndicator$13(BackgroundTaskUtil.java:342) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.util.BackgroundTaskUtil.lambda$runUnderDisposeAwareIndicator$15(BackgroundTaskUtil.java:371) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.lambda$runProcess$1(CoreProgressManager.java:223) 
at com.intellij.platform.diagnostic.telemetry.helpers.TraceKt.use(trace.kt:45) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.lambda$runProcess$2(CoreProgressManager.java:222) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.lambda$executeProcessUnderProgress$14(CoreProgressManager.java:674) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.registerIndicatorAndRun(CoreProgressManager.java:749) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.computeUnderProgress(CoreProgressManager.java:705) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.executeProcessUnderProgress(CoreProgressManager.java:673) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManagerImpl.java:79) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.runProcess(CoreProgressManager.java:203) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.util.BackgroundTaskUtil.runUnderDisposeAwareIndicator(BackgroundTaskUtil.java:366) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.util.BackgroundTaskUtil.runUnderDisposeAwareIndicator(BackgroundTaskUtil.java:341) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.util.BackgroundTaskUtil.runUnderDisposeAwareIndicator(BackgroundTaskUtil.java:333) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListManagerImpl.updateImmediately(ChangeListManagerImpl.java:493) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.UpdateRequestsQueue$RefreshRunnable.run(UpdateRequestsQueue.java:278) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListScheduler$schedule$future$1.invokeSuspend$lambda$0(ChangeListScheduler.kt:29) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.CoroutinesKt.blockingContextInner(coroutines.kt:341) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.CoroutinesKt$blockingContext$2.invokeSuspend(coroutines.kt:233) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.CoroutinesKt$blockingContext$2.invoke(coroutines.kt) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.CoroutinesKt$blockingContext$2.invoke(coroutines.kt) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.intrinsics.UndispatchedKt.startUndispatchedOrReturn(Undispatched.kt:62) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.CoroutineScopeKt.coroutineScope(CoroutineScope.kt:261) 
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.CoroutinesKt.blockingContext(coroutines.kt:232) 
at com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.ChangeListScheduler$schedule$future$1.invokeSuspend(ChangeListScheduler.kt:28) 
at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:33) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:104) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.internal.LimitedDispatcher$Worker.run(LimitedDispatcher.kt:111) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.TaskImpl.run(Tasks.kt:99) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler.runSafely(CoroutineScheduler.kt:608) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.executeTask(CoroutineScheduler.kt:873) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.runWorker(CoroutineScheduler.kt:763) 
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.run(CoroutineScheduler.kt:750)

Cause

The Git plugin in the recent IDE versions has some new features that rely on a more recent git version. For example, showing git Tags in the Branches UI. In case that user's installed Git version is pretty old, it could cause such issue.

Resolution

Update the version of the Git installation referenced in Settings (⌘ + , or Ctrl + Alt + S) > Version Control > Git > Path to Git executable to the latest one.