Which tool or command can you use to view time synchronization settings in Windows 10?

Time is very important, for humans and for machines and it's no different for Windows. Many programs, services and components in Windows requires to know precise time to work correctly (Kerberos authentication for example). To maintain the time correctly, Windows 10 offers the Windows Time service and the w32tm.exe tool which allows you to synchronize the time of your local computer with another computer on your local network or on the internet. This synchronization is performed using the Network Time Protocol (NTP) and occurs at specific interval.

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View or change time server in Windows 10
Changing time synchronisation interval in Windows 10
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
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Windows 10 computers that are not joined to a domain synchronise its time automatically with an Internet Time Server. The default Internet Time Server is time.windows.com.

For computers that are on the domain, the time is synchronised with the domain controller.

View or change time server in Windows 10

The following steps outlines how to view or change the time server used to synchronise your computers clock.

Click Start → Settings → Time & language.
Select Date & Time from the left side menu and then click Additional date time & regional settings.
Click Set the time and date.
Select the tab Internet Time. It will show you the current NTP server used to synchronize the time.
Click Change Settings.
Select the checkbox Synchronise with an Internet time server.
Select a time server from the drop down box or enter you own server address.
Click Update now.
Click Ok to close the dialog.

Changing time synchronisation interval in Windows 10

A windows 10 computer synchronises with a time server to update the clock at specific intervals. In case of computers that are part of a domain, the default interval is 1 hour. But in case of stand-alone systems the update interval is 7 days. If you want your computer to synchronise the time more frequently, you can achieve that by changing the value for a registry key.

Open registry editor. (Type regedit in the search box)

Open the following registry path.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient

Right click the key SpecialPollInterval and select modify.
Select Decimal as Base. The default value in the Value data box will be 604800 which is the poll interval in seconds (604800 seconds = 7 days).
Enter a new value in the Value data box. For example if you want to set the poll interval to one day, enter the 86400.
Click OK.
Close registry editor and restart your computer.

Most modern operating systems, including Windows, can synchronize their system time to a NTP server. Windows utilizes a time service called ‘Windows Time’, which is automatically installed in the service list. The program executable is ‘w32time.exe’. The service is installed and enabled by default during installation.

Windows synchronizes time in different ways, depending on the network implementation utilized. When peer-to-peer networking is employed, each individual workstation sync to a time reference independently.

However, when Windows Domain Networking is deployed, only the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) synchronizes with a time reference. All other servers and workstations in the domain sync to the PDC using Windows proprietary protocol. The default installation procedure automatically configures workstations and servers to sync to the controlling PDC. Only the PDC needs to be configured to synchronize to an external time reference.
Configuring a Windows Server to Sync to an External Time Reference.

To configure a Windows PDC to synchronize with an external NTP server requires registry entry changes. When modifying registry settings, it is always a good idea to backup the current settings beforehand. Backup and modification of the registry is easily achieved using the ‘regedit’ utility, which can be run from the command line. You can revert back to previous settings if any problems occur with registry changes. Use the registry editor ‘regedit’ to change the following entries:

1. Change the server type to NTP.
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type
Change value data to: NTP

2. Set announce flags.
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags
Change value data to: 5

3. Enable NTP server
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer
Change value data to: 1.

4. Specify the time sources.
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters
Change value data to: <peerlist>
<peerlist> is a list of space-delimited NTP peers from which time can be received. If DNS names are used, you must append ‘,0x1’ to each DNS name. Alternatively, a list of IP addresses can be specified.

5. Select poll interval.
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient\SpecialPollInterval
Change value data to: <period>
<period> is the time in seconds between each poll. Microsoft recommends a value of 900, which equates to a polling frequency of once every 15 minutes.

6. Set the time correction settings.
These settings specify a time frame to validate time stamps received from an external reference. Only if the received timestamp falls between these registry settings will they be accepted. It provides a facility to reject timestamps that are too far away from the hosts system time. Microsoft recommends a setting of 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800).
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\MaxPosPhaseCorrection
Change value data to: <seconds>
Where <seconds> is the maximum positive offset of the received time stamp from the system time.

Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\MaxNegPhaseCorrection
Change value data to: <seconds>
Where <seconds> is the maximum negative offset of the received time stamp from the system time.

7. Restart the windows time service.
Stop and restart the Windows Time Service using the ‘net stop’ and ‘net start’ commands:
net stop w32time && net start w32time
Synchronizing a Windows Workgroup

Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7

When Windows for Workgroups is deployed, you have to manually configure time synchronization settings. You need to specify the time server that the Windows Time Service is to use as a reference clock. This is a very straightforward process; simply specify the time reference that the host is to synchronise with using the ‘net time’ command:

Net time \\<ntpserver> /set /yes

Where <ntpserver> is the DNS name or IP address of the time reference.

Alternatively, you can utilize the date and time properties applet from the control panel. Select the ‘Internet Time’ tab from the applet, check ‘Automatically Synchronize with an Internet Time Server’ and enter the DNS name or IP address of the server. If you select ‘Update Now’ the time service will attempt to contact and synchronize with the time reference immediately.

Typical responses are:

‘The time has been successfully synchronized with <ntpserver>’
This indicates that the time reference was contacted successfully and synchronization has been successful.

‘An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with <ntpserver>’
An attempt was made to contact the specified time reference, but no response was received.

‘An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with <ntpserver>. The time sample was rejected because: The peer’s stratum is less than the host’s stratum.’
This indicates that contact was made with the specified time reference, but a problem was detected. Generally, it is because the time reference was in an unsynchronized state.

The applet will also periodically automatically synchronize with the specified reference. The next time synchronization is due to commence is displayed at the bottom of the applet’s window.

About the Author.

Andy Shinton has spent his entire career within the IT industry, mainly in the Time and Frequency sector. Since 2002, he has headed TimeTools Research and Development Division. Andy regularly writes white-papers and articles about NTP and Network Timing Solutions.

The Fundamentals Of Time Synchronization

About Andrew Shinton
Andrew Shinton is the joint founder and Managing Director of TimeTools Limited. He has a BSc (Hons) degree in Computer Science. Andrew has over 20 years experience of GPS systems and Network Time Protocol (NTP) in the Time and Frequency Industry.

What command can be used to view the time servers you are synchronizing with?

The 'ntpq' command is used to monitor NTP daemon and determine the performance, which can be identified by querying the NTP servers running on the host.