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Sync Date & Time

Sync Windows Time & Date

If your Windows time or date is wrong, try these steps in order.

1. Sync the time manually

  1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
  2. Go to Time & language → Date & time.
  3. Make sure:
    • Set time automatically = On
    • Set time zone automatically = On if available.
  4. Scroll down to Additional settings.
  5. Press Sync now.

You should see:

Last successful time synchronization: followed by the current date and time.

2. Open the Date & Time settings directly

Press Win + R, paste:

ms-settings:dateandtime

Then press Enter.

For the Region & Language page, use:

ms-settings:regionlanguage?activationSource=SMC-IA-4027670

3. If “Sync now” does not work

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

net start w32time
w32tm /resync

If successful, you should see:

The command completed successfully.

4. If the Windows Time service is disabled

Run these commands as Administrator:

sc config w32time start= auto
net start w32time
w32tm /resync

Important: There must be a space after start=.

5. Reset the Windows time service

If it is still not syncing, run:

net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
net start w32time
w32tm /resync /force

Then restart the PC and press Sync now again.

6. Set the Microsoft time server manually

Run Command Prompt as Administrator:

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"time.windows.com,0x9" /syncfromflags:manual /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
w32tm /resync /force

To check whether Windows is syncing properly:

w32tm /query /status

Look at the Source line. Ideally it should show a network time source rather than:

Local CMOS Clock

Still not syncing?

Check that your time zone is correct, restart the PC, and make sure the Windows Time service is running. You can check it with:

sc query w32time

You want to see:

STATE : 4  RUNNING

If the clock becomes wrong again every time the PC is completely powered off, the motherboard’s CMOS battery may also need checking.