Changing frequency of internet time synchronisation

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

As the subject line says, I want to change how often Windows checks my PC's
time against an online time server, and I can't see how to do this from the
control panel or system tray. I presume it's a registry setting: can
someone kindly point me in the right direction?

Ta muchly.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I'm just really curious why you would want to change this feature?


"Trent SC" <trent@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:e0Qb1scmFHA.3304@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> As the subject line says, I want to change how often Windows checks my
> PC's time against an online time server, and I can't see how to do this
> from the control panel or system tray. I presume it's a registry setting:
> can someone kindly point me in the right direction?
>
> Ta muchly.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi

You can alter the time sync via the Registry. Navigate to the following in
the Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient
(SpecialPollInterval)

Right click on 'SpecialPollInterval' in the right hand column and select
Modify>Decimal. The decimal number is in seconds. I have that value set to
86400 (24 hours).

Please backup the Registry beforehand.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


"Trent SC" <trent@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:e0Qb1scmFHA.3304@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> As the subject line says, I want to change how often Windows checks my
> PC's time against an online time server, and I can't see how to do this
> from the control panel or system tray. I presume it's a registry setting:
> can someone kindly point me in the right direction?
>
> Ta muchly.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Many thanks - spot on.

> You can alter the time sync via the Registry. Navigate to the following
> in the Registry:
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient
> (SpecialPollInterval)
>
> Right click on 'SpecialPollInterval' in the right hand column and select
> Modify>Decimal. The decimal number is in seconds. I have that value set
> to 86400 (24 hours).
>
> Please backup the Registry beforehand.
>
>> As the subject line says, I want to change how often Windows checks my
>> PC's time against an online time server, and I can't see how to do this
>> from the control panel or system tray. I presume it's a registry
>> setting: can someone kindly point me in the right direction?
>>
>> Ta muchly.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

You're welcome.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


"Bob C" <invalid@bogoff.invalid> wrote in message
news:42f38045$0$91533$ed2e19e4@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net...
> Many thanks - spot on.
>
>> You can alter the time sync via the Registry. Navigate to the following
>> in the Registry:
>>
>> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient
>> (SpecialPollInterval)
>>
>> Right click on 'SpecialPollInterval' in the right hand column and select
>> Modify>Decimal. The decimal number is in seconds. I have that value set
>> to 86400 (24 hours).
>>
>> Please backup the Registry beforehand.
>>
>>> As the subject line says, I want to change how often Windows checks my
>>> PC's time against an online time server, and I can't see how to do this
>>> from the control panel or system tray. I presume it's a registry
>>> setting: can someone kindly point me in the right direction?
>>>
>>> Ta muchly.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Perhaps because his clock drifts too much between the default checking interval.

I know my windows clock drifts by up to a minute before it gets corrected. That may or may not be an issue for most people, but it is for me. Windows allowing its clock to drift that much before correcting is just tardy.

 

[Guest]

Just setting SpecialPollInterval won't work. You must also set SpecialInterval to 0x1 (DWORD) and then restart the service (net stop w32time && net start w32time) to read the new registry values.

I had an issue with the Linux KVM and Windows 2008 guest and system time, and this resolves it quite well.

 

[maccs138]

Acrually you just need to run "w32tm.exe /config /update" (w/o the "" of coarse) from the comand line and the above mentioned fix works perfectly. You do have t run cmd as an Administrator to avoid the annoying "access denied" though...

 

[nz_pete]

Using the info in this thread, I've made the process really simple. Copy ALL LINES of the following code (including the ones starting with semicolons) into a new makeTimeUpdateDaily.bat file and run it. (Keep a copy for the future, so you can just run it on any and all computers you want to update.)

[fixed]REGEDIT4

;@ECHO OFF
;CLS
;REGEDIT.EXE /s "%~f0"
;net stop w32time
;net start w32time
;w32tm.exe /config /update
;EXIT


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient]
"SpecialPollInterval"=dword:00015180
"SpecialInterval"=dword:00000001

;NOTES:

;"SpecialPollInterval" is in seconds, and is the interval between syncs. dword:00015180 = 86400 decimal = daily

[/fixed]

Notes on how this works:

In .REG files, every line after the first one that starts with a semicolon is treated as comment.
Batch files completely ignore the semicolons before commands.
So this batch file will use itself as a .REG file, due to the line [REGEDIT.EXE /s "%~f0"],which runs silently due to the /s parameter.
The REGEDIT4 line is required, and must be the first line, otherwise REGEDIT.EXE won't accept the script as a valid .REG file.
However, it will generate an error message when running as a batch file, hence the CLS command to wipe the error message from the screen.
To prevent more error messages, EXIT is used to abort the batch file immediately after the REGEDIT.EXE command.

My credit for this method goes to: www.robvanderwoude.com/regedit.php

 

[TedETGbiz]

Great post! Works like a charm in both Win7 & XP.

TIP: if you are having issues with staying connected on a VPN, or with any other process which requires that 2 PCs communicate securely over an encrypted connection, check your motherboard battery. The time was drifting on an old PC of ours, so until I can replace the battery, this .bat file will do the trick. Having the time updated once/day is probably a good idea anyway, even without that.

 

[mpsan]

I needed to do this as I was using a Ham Radio Digital mode that required my clock to be within MilliSeconds of being correct. The ONLY thing that worked was a program (FREE) called Dimension 4 or D4 as it is called. Look on Google. Easy to setup and it works. You can set any interval, but for me I had to use 5 minutes!