realtime clock battery dead. how to set date and time automatically on bootup. anyone know how? dont feel like replacing the battery. so lets say the computer thinks that its 1998 and at 3:00. I'd like way so that it will set date and time upon booting. If you can point a way to do this using the MS internet time clock: in the GUI = awesome the OS should do this by default single command at the cmd = good - I'm geussing a w32time service command. powershell command = great - there's gotta be a way

There is already a task in Task Scheduler for this... In the left hand pane, navigate to windows tasks, find time sync, click on that. Then right click on the instance in the top pane, select properties, then click the Trigger tab and right click on the current entry and select edit. The simplest way would be to chage it from "On a Schedule" to "at boot". No way I could get by without a CMOS battery, the BIOS loses config settings and my systems would be crippled at the "default" settings. Batteries are cheap, and good for at least 5 years, more if the system is powered up. DAS

Here's a link: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/its.cfm Click on Windows under the instructions section, there is some good info in there as well. DAS

this would be perfect but doesn't seem to be working properly. using the update time util in date and time settings does seem to work. I manually run the sync time job and it reports that its completing successfully. but the time is not updting correctly: Task Scheduler successfully finished "{a174f56b-aa69-41e1-a43b-3b7b80c27aab}" instance of the "\Microsoft\Windows\Time Synchronization\SynchronizeTime" task for user "NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE". billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Hi, Would you please let me know what is your computer model? How do you know the clock battery is dead? Also check if the following link is helpful. http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/52659-pc-time-always-not-sync.html Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

you can get a free software which will synchronize the time on every bootWeb Design Edinburgh Cheap Web Design Edinburgh Edinburgh IT Support IT Support Services in Edinburgh

I could have been more clear... If you read the windows instructions from the NIST link, they offer a solution to the non-update problem, basically you stop the service, then restart it. I'd try the 1st and last (net stop w32time and net start w32time) first to see if that works, if not, then it might be worth trying the unregister, register stuff. Beyond that... What I'm thinking is you would allow the on boot task to "set" the clock , but do the stop/start via another task, perhaps a login, which would (hopefully) update the time display. (I simply can't remove my battery to test this, so you are doing the troubleshooting for me, good luck). The automated method (if the CMD prompt netstop /start stuff does work) would be to creat a batch file and call that batch file with the login task. From the NIST site: net stop w32time w32tm /unregister [ignore error message] w32tm /unregister [enter a second time] w32tm /register net start w32time

well this is frustrating. tried the w32 cmds.. below. still not time synced. the time sync job is now gone. mysteriously disappeared. time sync job should really work by default without any tweaking now shouldn't it??? rebooting... cmd as admin: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600] Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32> C:\Windows\system32>net stop w32time The Windows Time service is not started. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521. C:\Windows\system32> C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /unregister The following error occurred: Access is denied. (0x80070005) C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /unregister The following error occurred: Access is denied. (0x80070005) C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /register W32Time successfully registered. C:\Windows\system32> C:\Windows\system32>net start w32time The Windows Time service is starting. The Windows Time service was started successfully. C:\Windows\system32> C:\Windows\system32>net stop w32time The Windows Time service is stopping. The Windows Time service was stopped successfully. C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /unregister W32Time successfully unregistered. C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /unregister W32Time successfully unregistered. C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /register W32Time successfully registered. C:\Windows\system32>net start w32time The Windows Time service is starting. The Windows Time service was started successfully. C:\Windows\system32> billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

I believe the problem disappeared since W32time wasn't started in the first place, and by following the NIST provided commands, you "kick started" it. Note the "access denied" when you first tried to unregister, you were denied access since it wasn't registered in the first place. The next time you started it, everything started working. At this point I would imagine you could run through the commands and never see the "denied" again. UNLESS: You are on a domain and GP is forcing INET time sync off in order to get time from a master server that is not configured to provide same or some such. To be honest, I keep forgetting that not everyone is a home user here (this is really NOT a Microsoft IT pro site in the paid support sense, but a "help group" comprized of people asking questions and a pool of folks willing to help if they can, a peer to peer arrangement, BUT, many of the answerers ARE in fact IT Pros and or MS people). I'll remind myself to ask the question home or domain?, because as you can imagine, the answers CAN vary wildly. Anyway, it looks like you are running now, please let me know if it changes and I'll see if I can help any further. DAS

No this isn't fixed. It's quite surprising that the only thing that does work is manually using the date time / internet time tab to sync is the only thing that works. This is a pretty fresh build of windows 7 pro x86 that I put on this laptop in recent times. Not joined to a domain just a stand alone laptop. Going through the date time util and manually clicking internet time sync seems to work OK. The MS time sync job in the task scheduler has mysteriously disappeared. There's still a folder for it but the job is gone. The w32tm / w32time cmd's also didn't help as far as I can tell. Will take another look again soon but thanks for any tips.billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Wondering if you have access to another machine where you could examine the standard time sync task and "rebuild*" it so the "normal" one is there, then you can simply add triggers to it for Boot or login? *basically copy all the info back over to the now missing entry I'm on a domain machine now so I can't see what that would entail right now, but I'd be happy to look at a non-domain machine if you don't have access to another. Let me know... DAS

Sounds good. I had set them to run at boot, as well as at idle. It's very odd that they just disappeared like that! I've found Windows 7 to be one of the best Windows build's i've used, it's rock solid stable, and havn't found many bugs in it at all. This one is pretty surprising. At this point it'd almost be easier for me to just wirte an auto it script that will use the time utility to sync the clock but am going to try to fix this and figure it out.billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

I exported the task from another machine. Below the XML is anyone needs it. I ran task scheduler as admin, imported the task, then made it run. it took over 10 minutes to run and reported completed successfully. I offset the system time by -10 minutes and reran the task. 30 minutes later its still running and the time is off by 10 minutes. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?> <Task version="1.3" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task"> <RegistrationInfo> <Source>Windows Time</Source> <Author>Microsoft Corporation</Author> <Description>Maintains date and time synchronization on all clients and servers in the network. If this service is stopped, date and time synchronization will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.</Description> <URI>Microsoft\Windows\Time Synchronization\SynchronizeTime</URI> </RegistrationInfo> <Triggers> <CalendarTrigger id="TimeSyncWeeklyTrigger"> <StartBoundary>2005-01-01T01:00:00</StartBoundary> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <ScheduleByWeek> <DaysOfWeek> <Sunday /> </DaysOfWeek> <WeeksInterval>1</WeeksInterval> </ScheduleByWeek> </CalendarTrigger> </Triggers> <Principals> <Principal id="LocalService"> <UserId>S-1-5-19</UserId> <RunLevel>HighestAvailable</RunLevel> </Principal> </Principals> <Settings> <MultipleInstancesPolicy>IgnoreNew</MultipleInstancesPolicy> <DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>false</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries> <StopIfGoingOnBatteries>true</StopIfGoingOnBatteries> <AllowHardTerminate>true</AllowHardTerminate> <StartWhenAvailable>true</StartWhenAvailable> <RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>true</RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable> <IdleSettings> <StopOnIdleEnd>true</StopOnIdleEnd> <RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle> </IdleSettings> <AllowStartOnDemand>true</AllowStartOnDemand> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <Hidden>false</Hidden> <RunOnlyIfIdle>false</RunOnlyIfIdle> <DisallowStartOnRemoteAppSession>false</DisallowStartOnRemoteAppSession> <UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine>true</UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine> <WakeToRun>false</WakeToRun> <ExecutionTimeLimit>PT72H</ExecutionTimeLimit> <Priority>7</Priority> </Settings> <Actions Context="LocalService"> <Exec> <Command>%windir%\system32\sc.exe</Command> <Arguments>start w32time task_started</Arguments> </Exec> </Actions> </Task> billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

OK the task isn't working. it reports completing successfully but the time is not updating: Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational Source: Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler Date: 4/17/2011 7:41:52 PM Event ID: 102 Task Category: Task completed Level: Information Keywords: (1) User: SYSTEM Computer: bill-PC Description: Task Scheduler successfully finished "{0d87ba03-bc17-4c78-84f5-c81a51d0ce9e}" instance of the "\Microsoft\Windows\Time Synchronization\SynchronizeTime" task for user "NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE". Event Xml: <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler" Guid="{DE7B24EA-73C8-4A09-985D-5BDADCFA9017}" /> <EventID>102</EventID> <Version>0</Version> <Level>4</Level> <Task>102</Task> <Opcode>2</Opcode> <Keywords>0x8000000000000001</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-04-18T02:41:52.336118200Z" /> <EventRecordID>11892</EventRecordID> <Correlation ActivityID="{0D87BA03-BC17-4C78-84F5-C81A51D0CE9E}" /> <Execution ProcessID="516" ThreadID="616" /> <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational</Channel> <Computer>bill-PC</Computer> <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" /> </System> <EventData Name="TaskSuccessEvent"> <Data Name="TaskName">\Microsoft\Windows\Time Synchronization\SynchronizeTime</Data> <Data Name="UserContext">NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE</Data> <Data Name="InstanceId">{0D87BA03-BC17-4C78-84F5-C81A51D0CE9E}</Data> </EventData> </Event> billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Here's a solution that works with win7. Just create a task with this command: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/120944 NET TIME \\TIMESRV /SET /YESbillspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

That won't work for you, unless of course you have a server named TIMESRV on your network, and... In the applies to section, the article indicates the instructions are for Win95, WinNT, and Win2000, and the link to KB314090 applies to XP Pro and Home. I'd still like to encourage you to replace the battery, one of these times a restart is going to pick up bad data, perhaps not realize the data is bad, and perhaps draw some wrong conclusions that could wreak havoc with your system. DAS

That won't work for you, unless of course you have a server named TIMESRV on your network, and... In the applies to section, the article indicates the instructions are for Win95, WinNT, and Win2000, and the link to KB314090 applies to XP Pro and Home. I'd still like to encourage you to replace the battery, one of these times a restart is going to pick up bad data, perhaps not realize the data is bad, and perhaps draw some wrong conclusions that could wreak havoc with your system. DAS Why confuse the subject with logic? It's much easier to blame Microsoft for something stupid like this than to take the intelligent route and replace the battery. The systems were never intended to run without a battery backup for the clock and the BIOS, but who cares. Let's just act stupid and blame Microsoft because Windows doesn't fix this!Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

It works wonderfully. I have a server here that I point it to. If you could point it to an external server that'd be coolbillspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Lets not get caught up on the battery needing to be replaced. Lets just say you want really accurate time instead.billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Lets say we start out telling the absolute truth in every word we type. I asked way back at the beginning of this thread if you were on a network, the answer was no, just a stand-alone laptop. You weren't interested in precision time, just getting up-to-date time instead of whatever your RTC failed to without battery power. Now you've got a server that gives you perfect time. Guess what? That server contacts external time sites to stay on track itself, unless it has a need for NIST traceable data logging and uses a local traceable clock that costs more than several servers itself. So now the solution you offered yourself (that has nothing to do with what you were discussing in the first place) you've gone ahead and marked as "answered". Hopefully your customers get a straighter story from you. DAS

Apologies if there was a miscomm. I made note that I wanted to set the time using internet time, therefore we know its networked. I also noted " Not joined to a domain just a stand alone laptop." Stand alone means not a domain member to me. I found a solution that meets the goal and is working great. If I could figure out the syntax for "net time" to sync with an internet time server that'd be even better. Goal met from the original post: single command at the cmd = good - I'm geussing a w32time service command.billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Fair enough. DAS

well the timw aync saga continues. turns out that the timw sync job will only work up until a certain threshold of the time being off is reached.billspeers.com - IT Consulting. Providing IT services to SF Bay Area and Abroad.

Unfortunately I had to goto a 3rd party to find somthing that works: http://keir.net/neutron.html works great. I'd still like to find a way to do this with a MS tool but net time and w32tm can't sync if the time is too far off. I simply added neutron to the startup folder as well as created a task scheduler job that makes it run as well. Some other time resources that people may find helpful http://computerperformance.co.uk/ezine/ezine98.htm http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773263(WS.10).aspx http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-networking/internet-time-settings/dd599efe-391b-4e65-890a-254ca5987cf7