Migrate Azure Devops On-Premise repository with PRs, branches, history into GitHub Enterprise

[fairmonk]

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I found ado2gh extension from gh tool, which supposedly can migrate repositories from Azure Devops Server ( on-prem installation ) into Github enterprise Organization. Can someone confirm that it works with bot Azure Devops Services and Azure Devops Server ?
If so, then for me it fails.
I tried

1. Exporting PAT token env variables
   root@pt-deb01:~# export GH_PAT="ghp_FGp82XUcek43gfdDcg1hPld3dvgZqx32l5mB" root@pt-deb01:~# export ADO_PAT="s9ldha34fmxv625rjfi3h44o6t4lfvpwnkgy7nos5a2bgktcrswq"
2. run migration command:
   gh ado2gh migrate-repo --ado-org https://azuredevops.mycompany.local/DefaultCollection --ado-team-project ProjectName --ado-repo repo-name --github-org org-name --github-repo repo-name

And the error is:
[2025-07-28 12:46:58] [WARNING] Could not check GitHub availability from githubstatus.com. See https://www.githubstatus.com for details. [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] You are running an up-to-date version of the ado2gh CLI [v1.17.0] [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] ADO ORG: https://azuredevops.mycompany.local/DefaultCollection [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] ADO TEAM PROJECT: ProjectName [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] ADO REPO: repo-name [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] GITHUB ORG: org-name [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] GITHUB REPO: repo-name [2025-07-28 12:46:58] [INFO] Migrating Repo... [2025-07-28 12:47:01] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:48:02] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:49:02] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:50:03] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:51:03] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:52:04] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:53:05] [INFO] Migration in progress (ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE). State: PENDING_VALIDATION. Waiting 60 seconds... [2025-07-28 12:54:05] [ERROR] Migration Failed. Migration ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE [2025-07-28 12:54:05] [INFO] Migration log available at or by running gh ado2gh download-logs --github-org org-name --github-repo repo-name [2025-07-28 12:54:05] [ERROR] PreflightCheckJob failed due to network availability issues. Please try again in 30 minutes. If this happens repeatedly, please contact GitHub Support.

This is what the logs state:
[2025-07-28 12:54:05] [ERROR] Migration Failed. Migration ID: RM_kgDaACRjOWE4MDUxYi04NDY0LTQ1YjYtYTM3NC1mZmQwMzNhNzliNWE [2025-07-28 12:54:05] [INFO] Migration log available at or by running gh ado2gh download-logs --github-org org-name --github-repo repo-name [2025-07-28 12:54:05] [ERROR] OctoshiftCLI.OctoshiftCliException: PreflightCheckJob failed due to network availability issues. Please try again in 30 minutes. If this happens repeatedly, please contact GitHub Support. at OctoshiftCLI.AdoToGithub.Commands.MigrateRepo.MigrateRepoCommandHandler.Handle(MigrateRepoCommandArgs args) at OctoshiftCLI.Extensions.CommandExtensions.RunHandler[TArgs,THandler](TArgs args, ServiceProvider sp, CommandBase2 command)
at OctoshiftCLI.Extensions.CommandExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass1_03.<<ConfigureCommand>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Invocation.AnonymousCommandHandler.InvokeAsync(InvocationContext) at System.CommandLine.Invocation.InvocationPipeline.<>c__DisplayClass4_0.<<BuildInvocationChain>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass17_0.<<UseParseErrorReporting>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass12_0.<<UseHelp>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass22_0.<<UseVersionOption>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass19_0.<<UseTypoCorrections>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c.<<UseSuggestDirective>b__18_0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass16_0.<<UseParseDirective>b__0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c.<<RegisterWithDotnetSuggest>b__5_0>d.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location --- at System.CommandLine.Builder.CommandLineBuilderExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass8_0.<<UseExceptionHandler>b__0>d.MoveNext()

Of course I replaced all sensitive data with dummy values.

UPDATE:
I see now that the verbose logs have appended https://dev.azure.com/ to my on-prem url as this:
"https://dev.azure.com/https%3A%2F%2Fazuredevops.mycompany.local%2FDefaultCollection/ProjectName/_git/repo-name
How can I force it to use url from my on-prem server ?

[Satyam6024]

Hey Buddy... — ati2gh actually does support both ADO Services and ADO Server (on‑prem), and it will migrate Git repos with PRs, branches, and full commit history.

It looks like your migration failed because the preflight check misinterpreted your on‑prem ADO URL—it prepended dev.azure.com/ to your transport URL, leading to validation failures.

To fix this:

• Ensure your ado2gh extension is up to date: gh extension upgrade github/gh-ado2gh.
• Run with GEI_DEBUG_MODE=true and --verbose, then inspect the full logs (*.octoshift.verbose.log) to confirm exactly what endpoint URLs are being used.
• If the CLI can't handle your on‑prem server correctly, consider using the GitHub Enterprise Importer GraphQL API directly—this allows you to supply your base URL exactly.

Between retries, ensure network connectivity from your server to GitHub endpoints is allowed (especially from behind firewalls or proxies). If the issue persists, reach out to GitHub Support—they can help clarify whether the cli supports your exact ADO Server version.

[CollatzConjecture]

the tool is double-encoding your on-prem URL; that's why it's failing, look at your verbose logs: it's prepending https://dev.azure.com/ to your already URL-encoded on-prem address

ado2gh is primarily designed for Azure DevOps Services (cloud), not Server (on-prem). The URL handling assumes the cloud format

maybe try with just the hostname without protocol:

gh ado2gh migrate-repo --ado-org azuredevops.mycompany.local/DefaultCollection --ado-team-project ProjectName --ado-repo repo-name --github-org org-name --github-repo repo-name

the "network availability" error is misleading, it's really a URL parsing issue

[CollatzConjecture]

the tool is double-encoding your on-prem URL; that's why it's failing, look at your verbose logs: it's prepending https://dev.azure.com/ to your already URL-encoded on-prem address

ado2gh is primarily designed for Azure DevOps Services (cloud), not Server (on-prem). The URL handling assumes the cloud format

maybe try with just the hostname without protocol:

gh ado2gh migrate-repo --ado-org azuredevops.mycompany.local/DefaultCollection --ado-team-project ProjectName --ado-repo repo-name --github-org org-name --github-repo repo-name

the "network availability" error is misleading, it's really a URL parsing issue

or you can use github's native importer via the web UI, it sometimes handles on-prem ADO better than the CLI tool

[viancodes]

Thanks for the detailed breakdown — this is a known limitation when using gh ado2gh with on-prem Azure DevOps Server.

Here’s what’s going wrong:

🔍 Root of the issue:
The gh ado2gh CLI currently does not fully support Azure DevOps Server (on-prem) — it's officially designed for Azure DevOps Services (cloud). That’s why you're seeing it append https://dev.azure.com/ even though you're pointing to a local server URL.

🛠️ What you can try instead:
GitHub recommends using the standalone GitHub Enterprise Importer for on-prem to GitHub Enterprise migrations. See:
https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud/importer

Also:

• Check if your server supports Basic Authentication + PAT (sometimes custom configuration needed for on-prem).
• Make sure the ADO PAT has full access to Code + Project Read scopes.
• You may need to use the REST API or Git clone/push method manually for unsupported server migrations.

📝 Update Suggestion:
I recommend opening a GitHub issue or contacting GitHub Enterprise Support to verify whether support for on-prem ADO Server is planned in upcoming versions.

Let me know if you'd like help creating a script to migrate using Git directly (mirror clone + push).