Event ID 6 — Time Service Configuration

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Windows Time service loads configuration settings from the registry. Windows Time Service uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is based on an atomic time scale and is therefore independent of time zone. Time zone information is stored in the computer's registry and is added to the system time just before it is displayed to the user.

Event Details

Resolve

Update some configuration settings in the registry

Registry values for the Windows Time service could not be read. If you have not enabled Windows Time service logging, enable it. Then, update the Windows Time entries from the registry.

To perform these procedures, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. Perform all steps on the computer that is logging the event to be resolved.

Enable Windows Time service logging

To enable Windows Time service logging:

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator. To open a command prompt as an administrator, click Start. In Start Search, type Command Prompt. At the top of the Start menu, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
2. Create a folder to receive the Windows Time service log file. In the command prompt window, type md c:\W32Time, and then press ENTER. This command creates a directory named W32Time on the C: drive.
3. To enable Windows Time service debug logging, type the following command w32tm /debug /enable /file:c:\W32Time\w32time.log /size:10000000 /entries:0-116, and then press ENTER.

Update the Windows Time service configuration from the registry

To update the Windows Time service configuration from the registry:

• In the command prompt window, type w32tm /config /update, and then press ENTER.

  This command forces a reload of the registry keys that are related to the Windows Time service. The command output indicates whether the loading of the values is successful.

Review the Windows Time log file

To review the Windows Time log file:

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry might severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data.

1. In Notepad, open the w32time.log file. To do so from the command prompt window, type start notepad c:\w32time\w32time.log, and then press ENTER.
2. Scroll to the end of the log to see if you can identify any errors that indicate that Windows Time service values from the registry were null. If so, locate those values in the registry, and then enter values as appropriate.
3. To update a value in Registry Editor, right-click the value, and then click Modify.
4. Change the data as necessary, and then click OK.
5. Close Notepad.

If necessary, you can reset all the original default Windows Time registry values by unregistering and registering the W32time service.

To unregister and register the Windows Time service:

1. To stop the Windows Time service, at a command prompt, running as an administrator, type net stop w32time, and then press ENTER.
2. To unregister the Windows Time service dynamic-link library (DLL), at a command prompt, type w32tm /unregister, and then press ENTER.
3. To register the Windows Time service DLL, at a command prompt, type w32time /register, and then press ENTER.
4. To start the Windows Time service, at the command prompt, type net start w32time, and then press ENTER.

Update the Windows Time service configuration and review the log file

To update the Windows Time service configuration and review the log file:

1. Return to the command prompt window, and reload the Windows Time entries. At the command prompt, type w32tm /config /update, and then press ENTER.
2. In Notepad, open the w32time.log file again. Check to see that all registry values were read and loaded properly.

Post-troubleshooting cleanup

To disable Windows Time debug logging, at the command prompt, type W32tm /debug /disable, and then press ENTER.

You can also remove the c:\w32time folder and w32time.log file when troubleshooting is complete.

To remove the folder and log file:

1. To remove the folder and log file, you must first stop the Windows Time service. To stop the service, at the command prompt, type net stop w32time, and then press ENTER.
2. To remove the c:\w32time folder, at the command prompt, type rd c:\w32time /s /q, and then press ENTER.
3. Then, start the Windows Time service again. At the command prompt, type net start w32time, and then press ENTER.
4. Close the command prompt.

Additional information

For more information about enabling logging for the Windows Time service, see article 84199 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=84199).

Verify

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To verify that the Windows Time service is able to update its configuration from the registry:

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator. To open a command prompt as an administrator, click Start. In Start Search, type Command Prompt. At the top of the Start menu, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
2. Run the command W32TM /config /update. This command forces a reload of the registry keys that are related to the Windows Time service. The command output indicates whether the loading of the values is successful.

For more information about the Windows Time service, see Windows Time Service Technical Reference https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=25393).

Related Management Information

Time Service Configuration

Active Directory