Windows – Time on WIndows 7 Incorrect – set by network

timewindows 7

My computer is connected to a domain. The time is consistently wrong, in fact it seems to be going fast. I try setting the time correctly but within the hour it's changed back. I am pretty sure it must be getting the time from the server on the network.

Is there a way I can prevent this from happening? Such as insisting it syncs with Microsoft ?

Best Answer

By default, Windows as a domain member synchronizes against the domain controller's clock. If you're getting incorrect times, there may be two possible causes for it:

  1. The domain controller's clock is off.

    In this case, you can force Windows to synchronize against a public NTP server instead (such as pool.ntp.org). However, this will create large differences between your computer's and the domain controller's clocks, which is most likely to result in completely broken domain logons. AD uses Kerberos for authentication, and only allows time skews of up to 5 minutes.

    Fix: Scream at Talk with your network administrator.

    Workaround: Change the timezone to compensate for the offset.

  2. The domain controller's clock is correct, but your computer is configured with an incorrect timezone.

    Time sync works with UTC time. Windows always keeps its internal clock in UTC time as well, but applies an user-specified "time zone" offset when displaying times. If you see the clock as off by exactly one hour (or several hours), you might have an incorrect time zone configured.

    Fix: Go to Adjust Time and Date, verify the timezone settings.

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