Where Does TortoiseGit Store Settings?
TortoiseGit stores its UI settings in the Windows registry, while identity and remotes live in standard Git config files it shares with Git for Windows.
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TortoiseGit keeps two kinds of state, and they live in different places. Everything about the Tortoise shell itself (dialog sizes, log columns, overlay choices, the path to git.exe) sits in the registry under HKCU\Software\TortoiseGit. Everything Git cares about (your name, email, remotes, branches) sits in plain-text Git config files.
That division is convenient once you see it. Registry export moves the UI. Copying .gitconfig moves the identity. Touch the actual repositories last, since cloning fresh from the remote usually beats copying working trees around.
Where TortoiseGit stores this, by platform
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TortoiseGit
Dialog layouts, log filters, context menu choices, and the detected git.exe path (MSysGit value) all live here. This is the key to export for migration, and the Settings dialog exposes nearly all of it without regedit.
%USERPROFILE%\.gitconfig
Your name, email, and global defaults. TortoiseGit edits this file when you change identity in Settings, so it stays in sync with command-line Git. Per-repo overrides live in .git\config inside each clone.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a setting I changed keep showing the old value?
Open TortoiseGit Settings, go to the Git page, and check which level each value sits at. Effective config is the merge of system, global, and repo files, so a repo value quietly beats the global one you just set.
What do I back up before reinstalling Windows?
Export HKCU\Software\TortoiseGit and copy %USERPROFILE%\.gitconfig. Between those two you have the Tortoise UI state and the Git identity, which covers nearly everything a fresh install needs.
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