GitHub for Windows: Creating Git Repo from Existing Folder

**Problem: **You already have a directory with your project files in it and would simply like to start a GitHub repository in the existing folder.

**Solution: **There are multiple ways to go about this.  The first, and probably simplest, is to open up your command prompt and follow the instructions through the command line found on this Stack Overflow post.

However, if you can’t follow those instructions or would rather use the GitHub for Windows GUI, follow the instructions below.

1. Open GitHub for Windows
2. Click on the plus sign in the top left corner
3. Click Create, name the repo something random (it doesn’t matter here what you name it), then place the desired directory’s path as the Local Path.
4. Click Create Repository
5. You will now have a folder named whatever you wrote in instruction 3 in the directory you’re trying to turn into a repo.  Go inside this folder and copy the contents (should be .git files) and paste them inside your desired directory (this should be the directory directly outside of this new folder if you followed my local path instructions in #3).
6. Once you’ve pasted the .git files, delete the created folder.
7. Go back to GitHub for Windows and delete the temporary repo you created.
8. Click on the plus in the top left corner again and click Add.
9. Place the directory of the project you’re trying to repo into the Local Path.
10. You should now have a repo with the name of your project’s root folder in GitHub for Windows.