# fetchcontent not prompting for ssh password on powershell
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/fetchcontent-not-prompting-for-ssh-password-on-powershell/14296
**Category:** Usage
**Tags:** os:windows
**Created:** [June 30, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/fetchcontent-not-prompting-for-ssh-password-on-powershell/14296 "2025-06-30T08:17:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ChipsUndCola](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ChipsUndCola)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/fetchcontent-not-prompting-for-ssh-password-on-powershell/14296/1 "2025-06-30T08:17:52Z")
Hi,
I use cpmaddpackage() to add a protected git repo to my project.
I use a password protected ssh key to access the git repo.
Cpmaddpackage is a wrapper for fetchcontent.
When I run
`cmake --preset mypreset` on Git Bash, everything runs smoothly and the repo is cloned nicely.
However when I tried to configure the project through the VS Code Plugin CMake Tools, the clone fails without an expressive error message.
I started blaming the plugin, but after playing around a little bit I realized that the problem also occurs outside of VS Code, when I run `cmake --preset mypreset` in powershell.
By configuring git to use ssh in verbose mode, I finally got a sensible error message:
On powershell the clone fails due to not finding “/dev/tty” where I would be prompted for the ssh password.
I can only avoid this by using git bash, which doesnt integrate well into the VS Code Plugin or by using a ssh key that is not password protected, which is not a sustainable option.
Please let me know if anybody encountered a similar bug and was able to solve it
There is a bug on the “VSCode Cmake Tools” repo that discusses this, but i dont think the plugin cannot solve the problem when the issue might be in cmake itself?
>
>
> \### Brief Issue Summary
>
> When configuring a project using the CMake tools extens…ion and CMakePresets there is no password prompt for git repositories cloned by FetchContent.
> When running the same cmake presets from the terminal directly, there is a prompt which asks for the password for the private repository.
>
> Since the CMake tools extension just uses the "output" window there will probably be no way to get this working, right?
>
> Best regards, Manuel
>
> \### CMake Tools Diagnostics
>
> \_No response\_
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> \### Debug Log
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> \_No response\_
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> \### Additional Information
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> \_No response\_
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### Author:  [@craig.scott](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/craig.scott)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/fetchcontent-not-prompting-for-ssh-password-on-powershell/14296/2 "2025-06-30T22:21:28Z")
In order to prompt for a password, you would need to use the `USES_TERMINAL_DOWNLOAD`, `USES_TERMINAL_UPDATE` and possibly other `USES_TERMINAL_...` keywords. Each one should be followed by a true value (TRUE, YES, 1, …). This gives CMake access to the terminal to ask for a password. From there, it is up to whatever is invoking CMake to ensure a terminal is actually available. CMake can’t do much if a suitable terminal isn’t provided.
In general though, I would strongly recommend not relying on providing a password as input. Instead, try to use something like ssh-agent so that CMake can run non-interactively.