diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
index 6397d3abe..536fd9404 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
@@ -94,15 +94,10 @@ class GitDriver extends VcsDriver
         if (null === $this->rootIdentifier) {
             $this->rootIdentifier = 'master';
 
-            if (!(bool) Platform::getEnv('COMPOSER_DISABLE_NETWORK')) {
-                try {
-                    $this->process->execute('git remote show origin', $output, $this->repoDir);
-                    if (Preg::isMatch('{^\s*HEAD branch:\s(.+)\s*$}m', $output, $matches)) {
-                        return $this->rootIdentifier = $matches[1];
-                    }
-                } catch (\Exception $e) {
-                    $this->io->writeError('<error>Failed to fetch root identifier from remote: ' . $e->getMessage() . '</error>', true, IOInterface::DEBUG);
-                }
+            $gitUtil = new GitUtil($this->io, $this->config, $this->process, new Filesystem());
+            $defaultBranch = $gitUtil->getMirrorDefaultBranch($this->url, $this->repoDir, Filesystem::isLocalPath($this->url));
+            if ($defaultBranch !== null) {
+                return $this->rootIdentifier = $defaultBranch;
             }
 
             // select currently checked out branch if master is not available
diff --git a/src/Composer/Util/Git.php b/src/Composer/Util/Git.php
index 2c9167f56..7bf62fcff 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Util/Git.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Util/Git.php
@@ -46,10 +46,12 @@ class Git
      * @param string      $url
      * @param string|null $cwd
      * @param bool        $initialClone
+     * @param mixed       $commandOutput  the output will be written into this var if passed by ref
+     *                                    if a callable is passed it will be used as output handler
      *
      * @return void
      */
-    public function runCommand(callable $commandCallable, string $url, ?string $cwd, bool $initialClone = false): void
+    public function runCommand(callable $commandCallable, string $url, ?string $cwd, bool $initialClone = false, &$commandOutput = null): void
     {
         // Ensure we are allowed to use this URL by config
         $this->config->prohibitUrlByConfig($url, $this->io);
@@ -85,7 +87,7 @@ class Git
                     $protoUrl = $protocol . "://" . $match[1] . "/" . $match[2];
                 }
 
-                if (0 === $this->process->execute(call_user_func($commandCallable, $protoUrl), $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+                if (0 === $this->process->execute(call_user_func($commandCallable, $protoUrl), $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
                     return;
                 }
                 $messages[] = '- ' . $protoUrl . "\n" . Preg::replace('#^#m', '  ', $this->process->getErrorOutput());
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ class Git
 
         $auth = null;
         $credentials = array();
-        if ($bypassSshForGitHub || 0 !== $this->process->execute($command, $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+        if ($bypassSshForGitHub || 0 !== $this->process->execute($command, $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
             $errorMsg = $this->process->getErrorOutput();
             // private github repository without ssh key access, try https with auth
             if (Preg::isMatch('{^git@' . self::getGitHubDomainsRegex($this->config) . ':(.+?)\.git$}i', $url, $match)
@@ -127,7 +129,7 @@ class Git
                     $auth = $this->io->getAuthentication($match[1]);
                     $authUrl = 'https://' . rawurlencode($auth['username']) . ':' . rawurlencode($auth['password']) . '@' . $match[1] . '/' . $match[2] . '.git';
                     $command = call_user_func($commandCallable, $authUrl);
-                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
                         return;
                     }
 
@@ -162,7 +164,7 @@ class Git
                     $authUrl = 'https://' . rawurlencode($auth['username']) . ':' . rawurlencode($auth['password']) . '@' . $match[1] . '/' . $match[2] . '.git';
 
                     $command = call_user_func($commandCallable, $authUrl);
-                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
                         return;
                     }
 
@@ -172,7 +174,7 @@ class Git
                     $sshUrl = 'git@bitbucket.org:' . $match[2] . '.git';
                     $this->io->writeError('    No bitbucket authentication configured. Falling back to ssh.');
                     $command = call_user_func($commandCallable, $sshUrl);
-                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
                         return;
                     }
 
@@ -204,7 +206,7 @@ class Git
                     }
 
                     $command = call_user_func($commandCallable, $authUrl);
-                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
                         return;
                     }
 
@@ -241,7 +243,7 @@ class Git
                     $authUrl = $match[1] . rawurlencode($auth['username']) . ':' . rawurlencode($auth['password']) . '@' . $match[2] . $match[3];
 
                     $command = call_user_func($commandCallable, $authUrl);
-                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $ignoredOutput, $cwd)) {
+                    if (0 === $this->process->execute($command, $commandOutput, $cwd)) {
                         $this->io->setAuthentication($match[2], $auth['username'], $auth['password']);
                         $authHelper = new AuthHelper($this->io, $this->config);
                         $authHelper->storeAuth($match[2], $storeAuth);
@@ -392,6 +394,38 @@ class Git
         return false;
     }
 
+    public function getMirrorDefaultBranch(string $url, string $dir, bool $isLocalPathRepository): ?string
+    {
+        if ((bool) Platform::getEnv('COMPOSER_DISABLE_NETWORK')) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        try {
+            if ($isLocalPathRepository) {
+                $this->process->execute('git remote show origin', $output, $dir);
+            } else {
+                $commandCallable = function ($url): string {
+                    $sanitizedUrl = Preg::replace('{://([^@]+?):(.+?)@}', '://', $url);
+
+                    return sprintf('git remote set-url origin -- %s && git remote show origin && git remote set-url origin -- %s', ProcessExecutor::escape($url), ProcessExecutor::escape($sanitizedUrl));
+                };
+
+                $this->runCommand($commandCallable, $url, $dir, false, $output);
+            }
+
+            $lines = $this->process->splitLines($output);
+            foreach ($lines as $line) {
+                if (Preg::match('{^\s*HEAD branch:\s(.+)\s*$}m', $line, $matches) > 0) {
+                    return $matches[1];
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (\Exception $e) {
+            $this->io->writeError('<error>Failed to fetch root identifier from remote: ' . $e->getMessage() . '</error>', true, IOInterface::DEBUG);
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return void
      */
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitDriverTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitDriverTest.php
index e4e3c86b7..3158d11b1 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitDriverTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Vcs/GitDriverTest.php
@@ -42,12 +42,43 @@ class GitDriverTest extends TestCase
         }
     }
 
+    public function testGetRootIdentifierFromRemoteLocalRepository(): void
+    {
+        $process = $this->getProcessExecutorMock();
+        $io = $this->getMockBuilder(IOInterface::class)->getMock();
+
+        $driver = new GitDriver(['url' => $this->home], $io, $this->config, $this->getHttpDownloaderMock(), $process);
+        $this->setRepoDir($driver, $this->home);
+
+        $stdoutFailure = <<<GITFAILURE
+fatal: could not read Username for 'https://example.org/acme.git': terminal prompts disabled
+GITFAILURE;
+
+        $stdout = <<<GIT
+* main
+  2.2
+  1.10
+GIT;
+
+        $process
+            ->expects([[
+                'cmd' => 'git remote show origin',
+                'stdout' => $stdoutFailure,
+            ], [
+                'cmd' => 'git branch --no-color',
+                'stdout' => $stdout,
+            ]]);
+
+        $this->assertSame('main', $driver->getRootIdentifier());
+    }
+
     public function testGetRootIdentifierFromRemote(): void
     {
         $process = $this->getProcessExecutorMock();
         $io = $this->getMockBuilder(IOInterface::class)->getMock();
 
         $driver = new GitDriver(['url' => 'https://example.org/acme.git'], $io, $this->config, $this->getHttpDownloaderMock(), $process);
+        $this->setRepoDir($driver, $this->home);
 
         $stdout = <<<GIT
 * remote origin
@@ -62,7 +93,10 @@ GIT;
 
         $process
             ->expects([[
-                'cmd' => 'git remote show origin',
+                'cmd' => 'git remote -v',
+                'stdout' => '',
+            ],[
+                'cmd' => "git remote set-url origin -- 'https://example.org/acme.git' && git remote show origin && git remote set-url origin -- 'https://example.org/acme.git'",
                 'stdout' => $stdout,
             ]]);
 
@@ -77,6 +111,7 @@ GIT;
         $io = $this->getMockBuilder(IOInterface::class)->getMock();
 
         $driver = new GitDriver(['url' => 'https://example.org/acme.git'], $io, $this->config, $this->getHttpDownloaderMock(), $process);
+        $this->setRepoDir($driver, $this->home);
 
         $stdout = <<<GIT
 * main
@@ -92,4 +127,12 @@ GIT;
 
         $this->assertSame('main', $driver->getRootIdentifier());
     }
+
+    private function setRepoDir(GitDriver $driver, string $path): void
+    {
+        $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass($driver);
+        $reflectionProperty = $reflectionClass->getProperty('repoDir');
+        $reflectionProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $reflectionProperty->setValue($driver, $path);
+    }
 }