Fix a clock that shows the wrong time

A clock that’s off by even a few minutes can stop you signing in, block the VPN and make secure websites show certificate errors.

Symptoms

• The taskbar clock is wrong, or shows the wrong time zone after travel.
• Websites show “Your clock is ahead” or “Your clock is behind”.
• Sign-ins or VPN fail for no obvious reason.

Cause

• Automatic time is turned off.
• The time zone is set manually and didn’t change when you travelled.
• On company PCs, the computer couldn’t reach the server it takes its time from.

Fix

1. Turn on automatic time

1. Open Settings › Time & language › Date & time.
2. Turn on Set time automatically.
3. Turn on Set time zone automatically, or choose your time zone (for Ajax and Toronto: (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)).

2. Sync now

On the same page, under Additional settings, select Sync now.

3. Restart

Restart the PC, then check the clock again.

If that didn’t work

For IT staff: on a domain-joined PC, run w32tm /resync in an elevated terminal, and check w32tm /query /status to see which server it syncs from.

When to call us

• The clock keeps drifting on several PCs. The domain time source may be wrong. See Fix time sync in an Active Directory domain.
• Set time automatically is greyed out on a work PC. It’s managed by policy.