I’ve tried all sorts of things to correct the time problem and below is what has finally worked in correcting the time to be correct in Windows 10.
Instructions to fix the Windows 10 time being wrong
Just follow the instructions below and your Windows time problems will disappear.
- Press Windows key + r ( + r).
- Type services.msc.
- Click Windows Time in the Name column.
- Alternate click and then click Properties.
- Change Startup type to Automatic (if it’s not already set to Automatic).
- Click Start if the service isn’t started.
Note: If you find that Excel is really slow with Windows 10 then here is the fix.
Thank you this works! Ive tried numerous things before this…
Thanks mate!
Thanks … it worked !!!
Thanks for the quick simple fix
thank you, this work!
Awesome yet simple fix for a bizarrely annoying Win10 problem.
Windows Time was running but set to Manual. Set to Automatic. Sorry, time still wrong. Correct zone, sync with internet, Server, etc all correct. Still searching for a solution to an obvious Win 10 bug, and not the only one.
It worked for me but only after I went into Date & Time settings and toggled the “Set time automatically” switch off & back on.
Thanks! This is what I had to do to make it work.
My name is Jeff and now my computer vibrate. How I fix?
This worked for me too. Did all of above and then toggle off/on. Thanks!
Thanks the toggle worked for me after setting to auto
This worked for me, too. Awesome! Thanks!
Yep, toggle on and off. Windows time was set to “manual.” Odd error. It still thinks I’m in Adelaide instead of Sydney when I let it set the time zone automatically, but that’s not worth worrying about. Thank you.
Likely because your ISP is a Sydney one (such as Telstra), Geolocation by IP address is good and all, but for me specifically it says I am in Perth even though I am 300km south of Perth.
Don’t get me started … it drives me nuts how inaccurate IP addresses often are.
Thanks!! This is the step of the process that made it work for me too.
Worked for me, but when I switched the “Set time automatically” slider to off and then back to on, it stayed grayed out with some animaed swirling balls next to it for a minute or two before updating the time. I just got a new computer, and am so frustrated with these sorts of Win 10 problems, but am grateful to people helping with solutions like this. Thanks!
Thanks-same issue with it not working.
Yes, I had to turn it off, then back on. I hope it stays…
It didn’t work for me either. Time is still wrong and everything else is set correctly.
Could be an underlying problem with a dying cmos battery on the motherboard. If so, your computer may cease booting one day without doing a setup in bios. It’s cheap to fix.
Run regedit and go to this key.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]
Create a new key in the right hand window of regedit with name RealTimeIsUniversal
and set the value to one by clicking the value box and changing it to 1
“RealTimeIsUniversal”=dword:00000001 for 32bit windows
and
“RealTimeIsUniversal”=qword:00000001 for 64 bit windows
HTH, as like you I tried all sorts of other stuff that did not help.
seems to work, thank you!
Date shows correct date, but all my timestamps are one day behind.
Set Windows Time to Automatic. Changed Regional settings and auto update of time. Correct Zone.
Nothing works…
As a recovering geek and long (long) time Windows user, I kind of love the fact that in Windows 10 the user still has to go in and manually enable the time synchronization function in order to have accurate date and time stamps, not to mention a functional calendar. While it’s not quite the same as a green-screen, command line edit, a big thank you to Microsoft for not letting us fall victim to ‘it just works.’ One needs to be able to change one’s own tire from time to time.
Oh, the solution above does work by the way.
I use Speak on enter in Excel to check large lists of dates. Works fine up until win 10 ! now it keeps speaking American date format regardless of location region format etc etc . The MS Win 10 support team refused to do anything and flicked it to an “Excel Expert”. I spent three hours with him explained exactly what the problem was over and over again. I said to him can you hear that it is not speaking the right format, he said Oh I was not aware of that function !!!!!! Worked fine up to Win 10 it is a bug
Kudos…thank you!
Thank you very much! Certainly wasn’t this complex in Windows XP 🙂
Worked! That’s a weird issue, wonder why it happened. But thanks.
Thank you! I looked all over the Internet for a solution and this was the simplest solution that actually worked!!
Thanks!
Only worked once I sent back to Date and Time settings and fiddled a bit to trigger an update.
Thanks!
Well, now instead of being one hour ahead, I’m an hour behind. I had it fixed once before, but after a forced update, it went back to being wrong.
thank you
it worked for me after I also went into date/time settings and slid ‘set time automatically’ to off and then on again
Amazing! An easy to follow, effective, simple and fast resolution to an issue in Windows. Thank you!
Fixed it. Thank you for sharing! I always wonder who takes time to upload information like this but I am always thankful they do. Amazing.
Thanks 🙂
Thank you, top hit in google and fixed in 5 seconds flat!
Useful info – my old Dell laptop kept putting the time 1 hour off. I’ve switched off the Automatic Time Zone as well,
thanks,
Jon.
Nice, helped me a bunch, thanks.
Although I was pleased to find this article, sadly it didn’t work for me. I get the message: “Windows could not start the Windows Time Service on Local Computer. Error 2: the system cannot find the file specified.” I don’t know if this is because something gone wrong with the whole operating system – I’ve been having problems for some weeks, and last week had to use the System Recovery files to try and make some repairs, but the time has not been right since. Any suggestions folks?
I’d appreciate any suggestions for how to resolve this. Thanks.
Thanks, the time is correct now.
Thank you for sharing. Much appreciated.
Windows time was set to “manual.” But, the fields were grayed out and I could not change it. I am not admin on my machine.
I have tried everything suggested here and elsewhere….and still have a clock losing time. A brand new computer and it is maddening.
I am beginning to wonder if it is an AMP issue.
Marcos
Same here! If you find a solution, please post it! Thanks.
In Spanish version: Hora de Windows
Well done, works for me!
Thank you
There is time freeze problem in Windows 10 when it is not connected to the internet for a while. Solution for this problem can be found here: http://it-fixes.povolotsky.info/2016/06/windows-10-date-time-frozen.html
This was a necessary part of my upgrade. Why? Dumb that I had to go search this out. Windows User Friendly? LOL
Thanks so much, it worked!
Great, I was wandering for this solution .. Thank you
thnks
I’ve tried resetting Time to Automatic but it keeps resetting to manual. On the Logon tab I’ve set it as “Local Service” and stopped/restarted the service but this doesn’t work either. Even when it is set to manual and shows as running the time lags while I’m using the laptop (Acer S2000). I periodically need to reset the time by toggling the “set time automatically” from manual back to automatic, and the time does update, but after a short while I notice the time is behind by a few minutes again. Windows 10 sucks, if only just for this reason.
I think I may have found the fix that works on my laptop via the link in Stanislav Povolotsky’s comment above.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3160312
I just went to straight to Option 3:
Optional Method 3: Disable Secure Time Seeding
Important We recommend that you try Workarounds 1 or 2 before you disable the Secure Time Seeding feature. Disabling the feature keeps it disabled even after you upgrade to a newer version of Windows in which the issue has been fixed.
To disable the Secure Time Seeding feature, set the UtilizeSslTimeData DWORD value to 0 (zero):
Registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesw32timeConfig
Value name: UtilizeSslTimeData
Value data: 0
Value type: DWORD
My problem is intermittent, sometimes the time will be correct for a few days, others it’s wrong on each boot up. As such I forget to check the time myself, if I run my email client, send for receive emails those emails will show the incorrect time – sometimes the day before.
I’ve tried changing Windows Time in services from Manual to Automatic, as shown at the top of the page.
The next time I boot up and go to services Windows Time has reverted to Manual Toggle.
Does anyone have any ideas on this?
Nice tutorial , works perfectly
time is set correctly. thanks.
Didn’t work. Have tried copious amounts of suggestions from various sources to no avail.
Great job Man ! Thanks a lot 🙂
thanks for that – it worked. Why the f&$% Microsoft can’t get such basic stuff to work I do not know. Doesn’t stop Bill Gates from cashing his pay checks though. Must be nice to be one of the world’s richest by making stuff that doesn’t even work properly. WTF? So glad I have a mac and that this POS is just a backup
Thank you. It works.
Thanks so much, I have been plagued by this annoying windows 10 bug for some time now. This is the first site have found that actually has the correct fix for it.
It worked!! Thanks!!
Nice! Thanks.
This didn’t work for me. Kept time while in use but when checked next morning was 3 hours off. Checked and Windows Time was still on automatic. Going to try the link suggested above next. Think it has to do with being in sleep mode and not connected to internet. Changed my settings so it never went to sleep while plugged in and after 3 hours was still on time.
Thank you. Fixed my consistently running 2 minutes slow.
Brilliant!! It’s worked. I’ve looked at so many sites, non as simple and clear as this. Thank you!
Awesome! That really helped! Thanks!
Thank you Gary 🙂
my startup type keeps going back to manual. frustrated…
Thank you
PERFECT!!!
Does not work for me after I change the services setting.
I have correct the time and after a while and it is still off by an hour.
Any other idea. Do I have to reinstall my windows 10?
Don’t get happy too fast as the problem will just manifest itself over and over as your time generated by the RTC accuracy and related interrupts on your motherboard drifts away! Why the idiots at Microsoft can’t simply have a routine that synchronizes the time every 24 hours totally escapes me.
Same problem here. Tried this fix and a couple of others. The clock still drifts off impressively. Does anyone else have a “fix” I can try, or maybe an addendum to the “fixes” I’ve already tried.
this wandering time thing foxed me (this morning on restart it said it was the year 2020 – spooky!) but a simple specific Googgle found this solution – which appeared to work perfectly. Thanks for posting it.
thank you
Nope. Doesn’t stay fixed. I’m so sick of this issue. My laptop (a Lenovo 100S) is less than two months old. Ridiculous. I’ve updated everything I know to update, Googled everything under the sun (including this fix) and nothing sticks. Fixes it for a minute. But a few minutes later, it’s lagging behind and losing time again. 🙁
Alternate click and then click Properties.
**SHOULD READ**
Click Action and then click Properties.
Thanks alot. It worked for me
WOW! Thank you! It actually worked !!!!
Service set to Manual… Why on earth would that be?!
Thanks for this, clearly I’m not alone in suffering this irritating issue!
Tried this but it’s still broken… Any suggestions?
Thank you.
Restarted my computer after these instructions and the time is now wright again! Fantastic! It worked! Thank you!
that worked, thanks!
I am glad all of the above works for you guy but none of it works for me. Setting my East Coast time zone to Hawaii is the only fix that gives me a consistent correct time.
Thanks. Worked for me!
Thanks it worked! TODAY IS 4-4-2017
Thank you! This seems to work. As soon as I started it my time changed to the correct date and time!
Thank you! This was very helpful, your description was easy to read and the visuals were nice.
This didn’t work for me (in Adelaide, after the stoopid daylight saving finished), this year. The only way I could fix it was setting my timezone to Pyongyang, of all places!
Thanks man
Thank you very much. I just solved old problem.
My icon is greyed out, cannot change it. So what is the next step?
it doesn’t let me change the startup type
thanks i dont know if its going to work or but it probably will.
Thank you 🙂
it’s work perfectly! problems solves! thanks a lot 😉
It works!!!!! Thank you!!
I add my thanks to those who’ve gone before! Clearly explained and easy to follow. No more annoying time issues!
This worked, thanks!
One question – How did it get this way? I’ve had Win10 for a while now and it’s always worked fine. What has to happen for this service to get turned off?
(And a suggestion- It’s possible, I believe, to get to services.msc through the GUI. You might want to include those steps. Yes, cmd is faster, but some uses might find it easier to remember for the future using the gui. Just a thought.)
This did not work at all.
Thanks, It works…
Thank you. Worked. (Why can’t Microsoft get the settings in the Control Panel to do this?)
For those having issues after booting from (cold=machine off) there may be another consideration. All current PC and I believe Apple as well use a battery to backup a small amount of information (in volatile RAM) that the system needs in order to start (aka CMOS). Most machines use a big hearing aid battery and they generally can be depended upon to last about three years. When I build a system I always put a new battery on the motherboard because you’ve got no idea how long that may have been sitting on a shelf in the warehouse the battery draining the whole time. When a new machine is built the tech enters the settings and manually sets the time and date on the motherboard when the battery gets weak often the time will be wrong on the motherboard itself and at bootup windows might be getting the time off the motherboard and thus will be wrong until it gets current time off the web…of course if you have no internet connection it won’t be able to get the time off the web. Recently built PC desktop machines are usually easy, just open the side of the case and you should see the battery mounted either flat or sometimes vertically. Just take it out and pay attention to which side the “+” sign is on so you install the new one properly. Laptops and 2 in 1 machines and tablets can be a rougher battery to reach, some laptops have a panel on the bottom that you simply unscrew to access the battery, my dell inspiron 15 you have to pop off the bottom of the machine and the battery is in a holder right there by the hard drive tray. My older Dell i5 is a pain you have to take all the guts out to reach the battery holder on the bottom of the motherboard, my samsung galaxy note tablet backs its hardware settings up with the main battery as with most tablets. On cheap tablets the batteries are hard soldered and may not be easily obtainable to replace, on more brand name and higher priced tablets the battery has a connector that slides into a socket and shouldn’t be too hard to get either from the manufacturer or off ebay oem. That stupid little battery can cause issues like a clock that’s wrong when it gets weak or dies whenever I have a problem with a computer booting first thing I do is change that stupid battery if it’s a year or more old.
Nothing that should work works. Try this: login as supervisor, in settings turn off automatic time, turn on automatic time. It will be okay until you turn off your computer. Now login as regular user and do some work. Ain’t Windows great!
Thank you so much. This was a head ache for me.
Thank you that worked for me!!
Thanks, nice easy fix when you know what to do
Thanks, that did the trick. 🙂
Thanks ! It is working now and finally i get to set the time right.
That worked!!! Thank you! Thank you! (I’ve tried so many unsuccessful suggestions before finding this)
This does not work on 1809
It seems that system sleep mod is irrelevant since my system is configured to not sleep, I am on 1809 and have the same problem my system is 16 hrs behind.
Thank You!
I was going to change to MAC, but now ill stay 🙂
Excellent, thank you for this simple fix to a problem that was very annoying.
i cant seem to understand the steps. pls help
Thanks for the easy and quick fix
Thanks:)
Thanks man
worked thank you!
Nice… It works. problem Solved
Thanks ! It is working now and finally i get to set the time right.
This worked for me! Keep posting such informative guides. Thanks!
Im having the time problem myself. I checked the services for Windows Time, but that service is actually missing.
Any ideas?
-Ed
Thank you very much ..
i went to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]
and created “dword 64”
named it RealTimeIsUniversal
set it’s vaue to 1
Resrarted the pc
Problem solved !!
nice article keep moving
It worked, thank you! I just got a new laptop yesterday and noticed when I started using it today that the time was over 9 hours behind! It was set on Pacific time at first and changing it to Eastern didn’t help. It was showing 3AM when it was 12PM! Thanks for the easy fix!
Computers vibrate???
Also synchronising your internet time with pool.ntp.com works too.
Thanx it worked
Does not work at all
I’ve too have had the same problem for a couple of years, I’ve tried every one of the above remedies and none of them have worked.
I recently received an error message on boot up “B1 Initialized Library failed OXC0000001” and I could only boot the computer by pressing the reset button. In addition to the computer time problem, I also had a problem that if the time was wrong the gamma monitor was also wrong so I’d have to reset the time before I accessed email, otherwise all emailes showed the wrong time of receipt and adjust the Nvida screen settings which was much too light.
I contacted the supplier and explained the problems with the time, they emailed me a set of instructions for shorting the CMOS terminals, pretty simple once I worked out where they were located on the Azus Z170-K motherboard. Simply turn off the computer, they stated leave the computer plugged in, web search said unplug, which I did, identified the CMOS reset, In my case two small needle shaped pins and shorted the two with a metal screwdriver. On re-boot the BIOS screen immediately appeared, I selected continue without changes and everything was fine.
Since making the adjustments I’ve NOT had a re-accurence of the problem.
Great – works for me!
Thanks mate
This worked for me! Keep posting such informative guides. Thanks!
Damn you just solved my problem! I had so much problem with the time in my windows 10. I thought only by formatting by laptop this could get solved but that’s really an awesome article you just saved my lot of time. Thank you again n again
good one
You love Windows 10, that makes one of you. I’m one of those who is still very disappointed that Windows 7 isn’t still around. Toggling off and back on ‘Set Time Automatically’ didn’t work for me but hitting the ‘Sync Time’ button did. One odd thing that I noticed: Win10 showed my last time sync as 10/31 at 13:32. That is impossible. I was out of town on 10/31 from 6 AM until 11 PM. My computer was completely powered off (not just in sleep mode) from 10/30 in the evening until the morning of 11/1. For that sync time, Windows was making it up. Windows 10 sucks so bad. This kind of stuff was never a problem in Windows 7, it always happened automatically without a glitch. In Windows 10, the most basic things are always a problem (time sync that they haven’t been able to get right for years now, connecting to printers, display options, detecting monitors, in Win 10 it’s always a problem). Win 10 is not an upgrade, it’s a downgrade.
its time to move to windows 11