Ask Dave Taylor
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • YouTube Videos
  • Top Categories
  • Subscribe via Email
  • Ask A Question
  • Meet Dave
  • Home
  • Windows PC Help
  • My Windows 11 is in the Wrong Timezone! How Can I Fix It?

My Windows 11 is in the Wrong Timezone! How Can I Fix It?

November 23, 2021 / Dave Taylor / Windows PC Help / 3 Comments

I don’t know why, but my Windows 11 PC is off an hour compared to the local time. I’m guessing it’s the wrong timezone, but how can I fix it?

It’s not uncommon for computers to get confused about timezones. Heck, people get confused about timezones every day. They are legitimately confusing, particularly the question of if someone is “ahead” of you or “behind” you in time. Computer systems use data to try and figure out your current location (for example, within a map app where you can center the map on your current location) but it doesn’t always work. Use a VPN (virtual private network), for example, and it can place you hundreds of miles away based on that relay location!

A lot of people also like to keep their computer locked to their local timezone when they travel, which can be a bit confusing if the computer shows one time but your phone (which automatically switches) shows another! Still, they get used to it. Either way, it is easy to change timezone on a Windows PC whether you’re running Win10 or Win11. Let’s have a look…

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR PC TIMEZONE

The easiest way to figure out what time it is on your PC is to look at the Taskbar:

win11 taskbar wrong timezone

It doesn’t show the timezone here, but let’s just assume it’s wrong because my smartphone is showing that it’s actually 8:26AM. That means I need to move one timezone “West”.

To identify your current timezone, you need to go into Settings. The easiest way to do that is to right-click on the date and time shown on the Taskbar. A tiny window pops up with two choices:

taskbar time with menu right click win11

You can choose “Adjust date and time” or if you want to go all old school with it, go into Settings and search for “zone”:

win11 settings - search for zone timezone

The first option is what you seek: “Change the time zone”.

CHANGING YOUR WIN11 PC’S TIMEZONE

Either way, you’ll end up here, in the Date & Time settings area:

win11 settings - date & time - current settings

You can see that it is setting the time automatically, but that the timezone is being selected manually. More oddly, it appears that my current time zone is “Central America”, which isn’t quite the same as Central Time (US & Canada)! I am a bit curious why my PC thinks that I’m in Central America, but that’s an aside. Let’s stay focused!

Change your time zone – or just see the many, many different options there are – by clicking on the current ‘zone. A menu pops up:

win11 settings - date & time - list of time zones timezones

Did you realize that the Yukon had its own time zone, as does Saskatchewan and Easter Island? Perhaps more surprisingly, did you realize that Chicago and Easter Island are on the same timezone?!

Here’s where I could switch my PC’s timezone to Mountain Time (US & Canada) which would move it an hour “earlier”, so that 9.26am would become 8.26am. Interestingly, since Mountain Time (and all other US timezones) also use daylight savings time, notice what else changes when I choose Mountain Time:

win11 settings - date & time - switch to mountain time

Suddenly the computer is primed to adjust for daylight savings time automatically. That’s handy!

But… I’m actually in Illinois right now, so I’m going to instead switch back to “Central Time (US & Canada)”.

To make sure my computer is accurate down to the fraction of a second with the current time, scroll down just a bit until you see this option in the Settings window:

win11 set time zone fix timezone - automatically sync time

A click on “Sync now” and it’ll ensure your PC is spot on with the time. A handy thing to do once in a proverbial blue moon!

And that’s it. Now you know where to find your current timezone on your Windows 11 PC, and how to adjust it if it’s not what you want or need. Easy enough.

Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Windows for many years and now have an extensive Windows 10 & Windows 11 help area. Please check it out to find lots of additional tutorials and guides while you’re here. Thanks!

Let’s Stay In Touch!

Never miss a single article, review or tutorial here on AskDaveTaylor, sign up for my fun weekly newsletter!
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please enter all required fields
Correct invalid entries
No spam, ever. Promise. Powered by FeedBlitz
Please choose a color:
Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!
change time zone, set time zone, win11 timezone, windows time zone

3 comments on “My Windows 11 is in the Wrong Timezone! How Can I Fix It?”

  1. Egbok says:
    December 15, 2021 at 1:22 pm

    Good morning Dave, Been reading your posts on PC Pitstop for the last 20 years. I’d like to add a little something about the computers clock. I have a XP laptop that I use to listen to the radio when I travel in Mexico. This last time I used it in Mex. I had just picked it up, and put in my luggage without charging or connecting to the internet. I use a wireless connection to the internet when I’m out away from any towns in Mex. From sitting without the battery for a length of time, the clock had become out of adjustment. The computer with the wireless connection could not synchronize with the internet time because of the delay to/from the wireless (it’s slow,26.8mb). Needless to say I missed (or not) the radio programming, and happenings back home. Auto synchronization might be something to check If your machine has been out of service for a while, and hasn’t been on the internet lately. The sync. problem didn’t affect packets from being sent, but it did affect streaming.

    Reply
  2. Ernest N. Wilcox Jr. says:
    November 24, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    I have my desktop PC set up to automatically select the correct time zone, and to set the time automatically too. Since I dual-boot Windows with a Linux distribution (and Linux likes to have the system (firmware) clock set to UTC), I did a search on the Internet, and found out that I can have my Windows system do the same. I started using this setting while I ran Windows 10, and it works correctly in Windows 11 as well.

    You can set this up either with the Windows Registry Editor, or from an Administrative Command Prompt (both involve adding a registry value). To be ultra-safe, I recommend that you create a System Restore Point before making any changes to the Windows registry. I named mine RegEdit to make finding it easier if bad things happened (they did NOT! :-)).

    Using the Windows Registry Editor, navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation
    Under TimeZoneInformation, add a new DWord value named “RealTimeIsUniversal” (no quotes), then set its value to 1 (by default, it will be
    zero when you create it).

    If you prefer to use an Administrative Command Prompt, run the following command (you can copy/paste it if you want to):
    reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation” /v RealTimeIsUniversal /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

    Restart your computer. After restarting, your system clock will be set to UTC time, and your time display on the taskbar will show the current local time.

    I understand that Microsoft originally designed MS-DOS for PCs before the Internet existed, so it was reasonable the PCs would set their system clocks to local time, but one thing I have never understood was why they persisted to do the same into the Internet age. This registry hack should by unnecessary. Setting the firmware clock to UTC should be either a default setting, or an option users can choose to enable or disable.

    My2Cents,

    Ernie

    Reply
    • Dave Taylor says:
      November 24, 2021 at 9:09 pm

      Thanks for your detailed contribution, Ernie, but I strongly recommend that people who lack expertise in Windows and programming do NOT try to edit their Windows Registry Editor. It should not be needed to accomplish this task, for sure.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Recent Posts

  • How Can I Make My Mouse Pointer and Text Cursor More Legible in Windows 11?
  • How to Enable “Hey Siri” on my iMac or MacBook?
  • How to Customize your Google Search Settings and Use Advanced Search
  • How to Create a Wordle Puzzle Help Shell Script in Linux or MacOS?
  • How Do I Enable and Manage my iPhone Personal Hotspot?

On Our YouTube Channel

Szanto Desert Sands Chronograph Watch (4553) -- REVIEW

Hagibis Nintendo Switch TV Dock -- DEMO & REVIEW

Categories

  • AdSense, AdWords, and PPC Help (106)
  • Amazon, eBay, and Online Shopping Help, (161)
  • Android Help (200)
  • Apple iPad Help (145)
  • Apple Watch Help (52)
  • Articles, Tutorials, and Reviews (344)
  • Auto Tech Help (11)
  • Business Advice (199)
  • Chrome OS Help (24)
  • Computer & Internet Basics (763)
  • d) None of the Above (165)
  • Facebook Help (383)
  • Google, Chrome & Gmail Help (179)
  • HTML & Web Page Design (245)
  • Instagram Help (47)
  • iPhone & iOS Help (607)
  • iPod & MP3 Player Help (173)
  • Kindle & Nook Help (93)
  • LinkedIn Help (85)
  • Linux Help (165)
  • Linux Shell Script Programming (87)
  • Mac & MacOS Help (892)
  • Most Popular (16)
  • Outlook & Office 365 Help (26)
  • PayPal Help (69)
  • Pinterest Help (53)
  • Reddit Help (18)
  • SEO & Marketing (81)
  • Spam, Scams & Security (92)
  • Trade Show News & Updates (23)
  • Twitter Help (217)
  • Video Game Tips (66)
  • Web Site Traffic Tips (62)
  • Windows PC Help (919)
  • Wordpress Help (204)
  • Writing and Publishing (72)
  • YouTube Help (46)
  • YouTube Video Reviews (159)
  • Zoom, Skype & Video Chat Help (57)

Archives

Social Connections:

Ask Dave Taylor


Follow Me on Pinterest
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on LinkedIn
Follow me on Instagram


AskDaveTaylor on Facebook



microsoft insider mvp


This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this site or on any linked site. Further, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to our terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site. Our lawyer says "Thanks for your cooperation."
© 2022 by Dave Taylor. "Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.
Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions - Accessibility Policy