Bug 442590 – MS Windows can be configured to use UTC for hardware clock

• Product: [OLD] Docs on www.gentoo.org
• Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

[Description Thomas Fischer 2012-11-10 11:35:43 UTC]

As pointed out elsewhere on the Internet [1,2,3], Windows can indeed be configured to use UTC instead of local time for the hardware clock. This is very useful for dual-boot configurations and thus should be mentioned in the localization guide.
I would like to suggest the following formulation. The Windows registry file should be put in a colored box if possible.


Microsoft Windows by default assumes that the hardware clock is set to the local time according to your time zone and, if applicable, the daylight saving time configuration. This conflicts with the recommended setting of having the hardware clock set to UTC.

To avoid problems in dual-boot configurations with Windows where each operating system interprets the hardware clock differently, Windows can be told that the hardware clock is indeed UTC instead of the local time. This change is performed by setting the registry key "RealTimeIsUniversal" through this .reg file:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]
"RealTimeIsUniversal"=dword:00000001



[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Time#UTC_in_Windows
[2] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff794720%28v=winembedded.60%29.aspx
[3] http://superuser.com/questions/185773/does-windows-7-support-utc-as-bios-time

Reproducible: Always

[Comment 1 nm (RETIRED) 2012-11-10 20:45:56 UTC]

configuring any OS but gentoo linux is beyond the scope of this guide.

however, this tidbit would be a good addition to the gentoo wiki, which you are free to edit!

http://wiki.gentoo.org

thanks!