How do I set my clock in Windows to UTC / localtime?

Question

I have a dual boot and a I configured windows to use UTC with a registry fix as explained in here: Clock time is off on dual boot

Now, I need to come back to localtime again, and I have no idea about how to edit the windows' registry to make it use local time again.

This question is asking for help reversing changes explained in a procedure documented in an Ask Ubuntu answer and in the Ubuntu community wiki. Ordinarily Windows questions should be closed as off-topic, but in this case, I do not think we should close this as off-topic. However, it might be reasonable to add information about how to reverse the Windows registry edit in that answer to that answer itself, and then make this a duplicate of that question. — Eliah Kagan, Dec 25 '12 at 04:57
@EliahKagan Would it be better to add it also to the wiki, so the content is there for all? — nanofarad, Dec 25 '12 at 15:07
@EliahKagan It is added, and was easier than expected. The DWORD value should have been set to 0 to undo it. — nanofarad, Dec 25 '12 at 18:33
@ObsessiveSSOℲ Cool--thanks for adding it to the community wiki! — Eliah Kagan, Dec 25 '12 at 18:36

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 24 '12 at 21:47

4

On my Windows 7 machine, the default is for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation\RealTimeIsUniversal to not exist. So, here are Windows instructions:

Hold down the Windows logo key and press R. There, type regedit. Click OK and if you're using Vista or newer, acknowledge the UAC warning.

Now, in the left pane, there is a tree view. Under Computer, there will be some things called HKEY_SOMETHING_OR_OTHER. You should click the + next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Then, you should click the + next to SYSTEM to get ino HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM. Now, expand CurrentControlSet, then inside it, Control, and then TimeZoneInformation. Now, right-click the entry for RealTimeIsUniversal and select the option to delete it. Alternatively, you could set it's value to 0.

answered Dec 24 '12 at 21:47

nanofarad

20,717

Worked fine (in my case it was Windows XP). Thanks for the answer and for adding it to the wiki to make it available for everyone! – Franco Pini Dec 25 '12 at 20:19
Note that this registry setting is no longer honored in Windows 8+. – brianary Oct 05 '14 at 20:52
@brianary I do not own any versions of Windows beyond 7. You are free to either suggest an edit to this answer, or create a new answer if you find a method that works with Windows 8. – nanofarad Oct 05 '14 at 20:56
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@hexafraction I wish i knew of any. So far, all signs point to this being a completely dropped feature. – brianary Oct 05 '14 at 20:58
You just have to create the entry yourself in windows 8. Works fine. – user2820379 Mar 29 '15 at 13:32
@brianary the setting works fine on Windows 8.1: http://i.stack.imgur.com/bwo5O.png – Stijn Jun 18 '15 at 11:26
@Stijn What edition of Windows 8.1 are you using? It doesn't work on mine, but I'm using the basic/home edition. – brianary Jun 18 '15 at 14:37
@brianary I'm using Pro. Perhaps it's disabled in the basic edition then. – Stijn Jun 18 '15 at 14:59
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…and it still doesn't work in Windows 10. – brianary Aug 09 '15 at 02:08
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If hexafraction's answer didn't work, you're probably running a x64 Windows. You need to go thru the same steps, but create a QWORD value (instead of DWORD). – maaw Jun 30 '16 at 00:07

How do I set my clock in Windows to UTC / localtime?

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