Visual Studio Fails to Detect Changes in Files When Using Git Integration

A rare problem in Visual Studio is when the Git integration fails to detect changes in files, meaning that even after editing files, Visual Studio does not show them as modified in the Git Changes window or the source control.

This issue can occur due to a variety of reasons, including misconfigured Git settings, issues with Visual Studio’s source control integration, or problems with the file system.

The first step in troubleshooting this issue is to ensure that the Visual Studio Git integration is properly configured.

Go to Tools > Options > Source Control and check whether Git is selected as the source control provider.

If Git is not selected, switch the source control provider to Git and restart Visual Studio.

In some cases, Visual Studio may fail to detect changes due to caching issues.

You can try clearing Visual Studio’s cache by closing the IDE and deleting the contents of the %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\Cache folder.

After clearing the cache, restart Visual Studio and check if the issue persists.

Another potential cause could be file system-related problems, such as issues with file permissions or file system watchers.

If the files are located in a network drive, external storage, or virtualized environment, file system monitoring may not work properly.

Make sure that the files you are working on are located in a directory with proper file system access and that no other software is interfering with file access.

A mismatch between the local Git repository and Visual Studio’s internal Git configuration can also cause problems with change detection.

You can try using Git from the command line to check the status of the repository.

If the command line shows changes that Visual Studio does not detect, there may be an issue with the Visual Studio Git integration itself.

In such cases, you can try reinstalling or repairing the Git integration by running the Visual Studio Installer and modifying the installation to ensure the Git components are properly installed.

Additionally, check whether there are any Git configuration issues by running git config --list to see if any settings are misconfigured.

Sometimes, the issue can also be caused by Visual Studio’s source control binding.

Try unbinding and re-binding the solution from Git by removing the source control bindings and then adding them back.

Another possible cause of this problem could be conflicts between Visual Studio’s Git integration and other tools or plugins, especially if you're using third-party Git clients or tools in conjunction with Visual Studio.

Try disabling or uninstalling any external Git tools to see if that resolves the issue.

If the problem persists, check the Visual Studio output window for any related errors or warnings that could provide additional context on the problem.

Lastly, consider resetting Visual Studio settings to default or creating a new Visual Studio profile to see if that resolves the issue.