How to set or change a computer's date and time

This page contains steps on how to change the computer's date and time in the computer's operating system, or in the BIOS settings. It also describes how to change the date and time on a mobile device.

• Why is computer asking for the time and date each time it boots?

Setting the date and time in BIOS or CMOS setup

1. Open the CMOS setup.

• How to enter the BIOS or CMOS setup.

2. In the system setup menu, locate the date and time.
3. Using the arrow keys, navigate to the date or time, adjust them to your liking, and then Save and Exit.

Setting date and time in the operating system

To change the system time in your operating system, follow these steps.

Windows 10

1. Right-click or tap the date and time in the Windows Notification Area in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
2. Click Adjust date/time.
3. Make sure your Time zone is set properly if your computer is displaying the wrong time.
4. To manually adjust the time, turn off the Set time automatically option and then click the Change button.
5. Change the date or time as desired, then click the Change button.

Windows 8

1. Click or tap the date and time in the Windows Notification Area in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
2. Select Change date and time settings at the bottom of the window that appears (shown below).

4. In the Date and Time window, under the Date and Time tab, click the Change date and time... button.
5. Make your adjustments and click OK.
6. Click OK on the main Date and Time window to save the changes.

To change the time zone, follow these steps.

1. In the Date and Time window from above, under the Date and Time tab, click the Change time zone... button.
2. Select the new time zone in the Time zone drop-down field and click OK.
3. Click OK on the main Date and Time window to save the time zone change.

Windows 7 and Vista

In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, follow these steps to adjust the date and time.

1. Press Windows key + D or navigate to the Windows desktop.
2. Click or tap the date and time in the Windows Notification Area in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3. Select Change date and time settings in the bottom of the window that appears (shown below).

4. In the Date and Time window, under the Date and Time tab, click the Change date and time... button.
5. Make your adjustments and click OK.
6. Click OK on the Date and Time window to save the changes.

To change the time zone, follow these steps.

1. In the Date and Time window from above, under the Date and Time tab, click the Change time zone... button.
2. Select the new time zone in the Time zone drop-down field and click OK.
3. Click OK on the main Date and Time window to save the time zone change.

Windows XP, 2000, 98, 95, NE, and NT 4

In Windows XP and earlier versions, follow these steps to set the date and time.

1. Navigate to the Windows desktop.
2. Right-click the time in your Systray, usually located at the bottom-right of your screen.
3. Click the Adjust Date/Time menu item.
4. This action opens the Date/Time Properties window, where you can adjust the date, time, and time zone.
5. Once the proper date and time are set, click Apply, and then Ok.

• How to view the date in Microsoft Windows.

MS-DOS and Windows command line

Setting the date through MS-DOS or the Windows command line is accomplished via use of the date command. See our date command page for further information.

Setting the time through MS-DOS or the Windows command line is accomplished via use of the time command. See our time command page for further information.

Linux command line

In Linux, use the date command to manually set the system date and time.

date -s "8 MAY 2020 11:36:00"

Or, to synchronize your system clock with a network time server, use ntpdate. For example, on Ubuntu or Debian:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ntpdate

Specify a network time server to the ntpdate command, for example us.pool.ntp.org.

sudo ntpdate us.pool.ntp.org

9 May 15:32:31 ntpdate[11562]: adjust time server 107.21.100.177 offset -0.004751 sec

To keep your system time synchronized regularly, install the ntp system service.

sudo apt install ntp

The service starts immediately, and starts automatically at system boot. To configure the service, edit the file /etc/ntp.conf, then restart the service.

sudo nano /etc/ntp.conf

sudo systemctl restart ntp

To access the hardware clock directly, use the hwclock command.

sudo hwclock --show

FreeBSD

In FreeBSD, ntp can be installed with the pkg package manager.

sudo pkg install ntp

Setting the date and time on the Apple operating system

1. Open the Apple Menu and select System Preferences.
2. Click Date & Time, and then click Date & Time again.
3. In the Date & Time window, set the date, time, time zone.

Setting the date and time on a mobile device

To set the date and time on a mobile device, follow these steps.

Android smartphone or tablet

1. Touch the Settings icon
2. Touch the Date & Time option
3. In the Date & Time Settings menu, touch the Automatic option to turn off the automatic date & time setting.
4. Touch either the Set Date or Set Time option.
5. Change the date or time accordingly and touch OK to save the change.

iPad or iPhone

1. Touch the Settings icon
2. Touch the General option
3. Touch the Date & Time option
4. In the Date & Time menu, turn off the Set Automatically option.
5. Touch the date & time, which should now be visible at the bottom of the Date & Time menu.
6. Adjust the date or time to your liking.