 Fix Windows Time Service, For Those of Us For Whom It Fails |
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 Nov 1 2007, 07:40 PM
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 Bleepin' Night Watchman  Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,762 Joined: 5-December 05 From: The City of Saint Francis, by the western sea Member No.: 43,307  |
For those of you unaware, Windows NT 4 (that Windows 2000) and higher (XP, Vista) are set to automatically synchronize the internal clock with either of these two time servers using the Network Time Protocol. Very handy, that. After extensive Googling and 3½ cigarettes, I came to believe that I was not the only one affected by this. Many users are, though not many seem to realize it. The Windows Time Service isn't high on many people's tech priorities list. What has solved the problem for me, and for most -- but not all -- the computers I've done this on is the following: Note: This Procedure Involves Editing The Windows Registry. You NEED to back up the registry before proceeding; it's just common sense. Learn How To Back Up The Registry Here. Step 1. Open the Windows Command Line (click Start then Run, type cmd and press enter) Step 2. Stop the Windows Time Service. Type: CODE net stop w32time at the command line, then press enter Step 3. Add tick.usno.navy.mil and tock.usno.navy.mil as primary and secondary time servers, retain time.windows.com and time-b.nist.gov as third and fourth servers (press enter after each line): CODE reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 0 /t REG_SZ /d tock.usno.navy.mil reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 1 /t REG_SZ /d tick.usno.navy.mil reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 2 /t REG_SZ /d time.windows.com reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 3 /t REG_SZ /d time-b.nist.gov Step 4. Restart Windows Time Service CODE net start w32time Step 5. Verify by issuing the resync command: CODE w32tm /resync That should do it. Even if the resync command fails, you've double the number of servers from which Windows can update thereby doubling you chance of success. I tried this with other NTP servers, but the US Navy's were the only ones that worked consistently. If you'd rather not do all that typing, simply copy & paste all the commands into notepad, one command per line, and save it to your desktop as time.bat. Then, double-click time.bat to execute the commands. --------------------  |
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Nov 2 2007, 07:07 PM
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 Bleepin' Animin Group: Site Admin Posts: 5,428 Joined: 18-August 05 From: Now On... Member No.: 31,547 |
Or there is always this option if registry edits make you shudder. Time Synchronization - and Why One Geek Found It Important
-------------------- The Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life. Andrew Brown  "On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key." — Scott Adams. |
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Nov 2 2007, 11:15 PM
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#3
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Bleepin' Night Watchman Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,762 Joined: 5-December 05 From: The City of Saint Francis, by the western sea Member No.: 43,307 |
QUOTE(Animal @ Nov 2 2007, 05:07 PM)  Or there is always this option if registry edits make you shudder. Time Synchronization - and Why One Geek Found It Important Yeah, you could do it that way if your one of those people who has do do everything the easy and efficient way. Nice one Animal! -------------------- |
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Nov 10 2007, 07:50 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 144 Joined: 31-May 07 From: England Member No.: 133,904 |
Thanks
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Nov 15 2007, 12:47 PM
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#5
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 15-November 07 From: So. Indiana Member No.: 169,910 |
Does anyone know of a way to manually set Windows Time Service to update at a certain time, say, 4 AM? I've googled & can't find anything.
Thanks for any help, The LibTech |
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Dec 30 2007, 09:17 PM
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 Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
QUOTE(LibTech @ Nov 15 2007, 10:47 AM) LibTech Hi LibTech, The link Animal posted above eventually leads to Thinking Man Software - Dimension 4 v5.0, which says that the free Dimension 4 utility "Attempts synchronization on a schedule you specify." This reply is a little late, but maybe you still haven't found another solution. This post has been edited by Dialer: Dec 30 2007, 09:45 PM -------------------- |
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Jan 8 2008, 04:57 PM
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#7
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 8-January 08 Member No.: 182,069 |
regsvr32 w32time.dll will fix the problem :-D (for me)
This post has been edited by Klies: Jan 8 2008, 04:59 PM |
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Jan 8 2008, 05:08 PM
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#8
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Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
Thanks, Klies, but I haven't a clue what to do with "regsvr32 w32time.dll." Is this a command to put in the run box, or....?
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Jan 8 2008, 05:17 PM
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#9
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Bleepin' Night Watchman Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,762 Joined: 5-December 05 From: The City of Saint Francis, by the western sea Member No.: 43,307 |
QUOTE(Dialer @ Jan 8 2008, 02:08 PM) Is this a command to put in the run box, or....? Exactly, the Run box is correct. -------------------- |
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Jan 8 2008, 05:25 PM
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#10
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Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
Thanks, Andrew. I guess I did have a clue after all.
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Jan 8 2008, 05:30 PM
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#11
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Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
Alas:
 ~Edited to change URL~ This post has been edited by TMacK: Jan 12 2008, 01:00 AM -------------------- |
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Jan 8 2008, 06:47 PM
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#12
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Bleepin' Night Watchman Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,762 Joined: 5-December 05 From: The City of Saint Francis, by the western sea Member No.: 43,307 |
Alas? Alas what? Poor Yorick? Did you know him well?
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Jan 8 2008, 07:03 PM
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#13
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Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
I did, and I have his skull on my desk even as I type.
Uh, you don't see the error message image I posted above? If not, it says: QUOTE The module "w32time.dll" was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with error code 0x80070005. For more information about this problem, search online using the error code as a search term. Or are you referring to the fact that I expected you to read my mind and failed to explain how I happened to get that error. It was the result of running regsvr32 w32time.dll in the run box. I also neglected to mention that I searched the net for the error code but found nothing related to time. Sorry.  Methinks it's time for me to get off the computer for a while. -------------------- |
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Jan 9 2008, 07:43 PM
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#14
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Bleepin' Night Watchman Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,762 Joined: 5-December 05 From: The City of Saint Francis, by the western sea Member No.: 43,307 |
Ah! It seems my Ad Blocker doesn't like the image... I see it now.
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Jan 9 2008, 09:15 PM
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#15
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 BleepingModerator Group: Moderator Posts: 4,587 Joined: 21-October 04 From: South Carolina - USA Member No.: 3,905 |
Amazing Andrew ~
presenting your gold cookie! Works great; ty. -------------------- "In a world where you can be anything, be yourself." ~ unknown
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