Windows doesn't adjust for dst

March 13, 2008 9:52 PM

Neither of my Windows machines have adjusted for daily light savings time.

One machine is Windows XP SP2 the other is Windows Server 2003. Both machines are up to date, with correct time zone settings and the little "automatically adjust for day light savings time" boxes checked.

I've been screwing around with the w32tm command with no luck. I've tried syncing the Windows XP machine with various servers manually from the command line. No luck. Just changing the time doesn't work, because the auto sync throws it off.*

*I know I can disable auto sync, but I really want to figure out what is going on here.

Keeping in mind that this is affecting two different systems, are there any suggestions out there? Thanks!

posted by wfrgms to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Best answer: Congress changed daylight savings time this year. My W2k box hadn't heard of it, but my Vista one did. There could be a patch out there, but I assume autoupdate would've gotten that.
posted by muddylemon at 9:57 PM on March 13, 2008

Is it possible that your machines missed the update to the extension of DST because of location settings?
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:58 PM on March 13, 2008

Best answer: Daylight savings dates changed last year, your computer should have updated its rules but you can fix it using the TZEDIT tool if it failed to.

All the info you could ever desire is here for dealing with it in Windows.
posted by Static Vagabond at 10:00 PM on March 13, 2008

Are you allowing automatics updates? IIRC, there have been 3 DST patches so far that you might not have.
posted by mphuie at 1:14 AM on March 14, 2008

Best answer: Download and install this DST patch from microsoft.

Or you can do this manually by downloading the TZEDIT.EXE program from here.
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:35 AM on March 14, 2008

Seconding damn dirty ape - is anything time zone related listed on windowsupdate.com when it scans your computer? (Make sure you're not hiding any updates)

Also, run this command and post the output:

w32tm /tz

Is the first line returned Time zone: Current:TIME_ZONE_ID_DAYLIGHT?
posted by mysterious1der at 5:37 AM on March 14, 2008

Yes, this sounds like you missed the patches that compensated for the new DST start somehow. Even if you don't get them, the problem should fix itself in a week or two when DST would have started before the adjustment.
posted by Who_Am_I at 7:30 AM on March 14, 2008

Also, the Microsoft DST patches are only available for Windows Server 2003 SP1/SP2, as Microsoft has dropped support for the initial release version of 2003. If this is the problem, then you should definitely upgrade to SP1/SP2 now; your computer will only get more vulnerable as more security holes are discovered.
posted by meowzilla at 12:22 PM on March 14, 2008