Domain Controller/Active Directory Time is 5 minutes slow

active-directorydomain-controllertimewindows-server-2008

Our Domain Controller/Active directory Windows 2008 server is running 5 mins slow, so all the client PCs are also showing the slower time.

Is it safe to change the time on the server? And while the users are still logged on?

Also whats the best way to make sure the time is always correct/synced?

Thanks
S

Best Answer

Set your Domain Controller to sync with an Internet time source (if you have more than one Domain Controller then do this on the one holding the PDC emulator role).

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"pool.ntp.org" /reliable:yes /update

Replace pool.ntp.org with your preferred NTP source.

It's safe to do this while people are logged on. The time on your domain computers will eventually re-sync and correct themselves. If you want to do this quickly on a machine then just restart the Windows Time service.

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Active Directory – Fixing Domain Controller Time Sync Issues

On the domain controller holding the PDC Emulator flexible single-master operations (FSMO) role in the forest root domain of your Active Directory forest should have an external-to-the-forest time source specified. On every other DC, time synchronization should be handled by the "Windows Time" service automatically. The DCs in each domain will sync with their domain's PDC Emulator role-holder, and the PDC Emulator role-holders in each domain will synchronize with the forest root PDC Emulator role-holder.

Per this document from Microsoft, be sure that you've disabled time synchronization in Host Integration Services.

Follow the procedure here to locate the DC in your domain that holds the PDC Emulator role. If you have a single-domain environment, then the PDC Emulator role-holder should have an external-to-the-forest time source configured.

Microsoft offers some more detailed guidance here, but the gist of setting an external-to-the-forest time source is using the "NET TIME" command, run on the forest root PDC Emulator role-holder, to specify the NTP server:

NET TIME /setsntp:server-name-here

Be sure that you can resolve the NTP server's name and that your firewall passes NTP (UDP port 123).

Windows – Summer daylight time not changing on some active directory domain clients

Time synchronization has nothing to do with time zones. Windows time synchronization and internal time is always UTC.

Check the following registry key on the clients that aren't updating to ensure they have the correct registry values. You can compare it to a computer that has the correct time zone.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones\

Best Answer

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