Event ID 7 — Service Status and Configuration

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Windows Time service updates the time server configuration settings or status. Changes to configuration are implemented when the service is restarted and when the W32tm command is used with the /update switch. These configuration or status changes occur when the Windows Time service:

• Enters a running status.
• Sets up the log file to record operational information. The debug logging feature of the Windows Time service can be used to help troubleshoot issues.
• Registers for network configuration change events. Computers use the network to send time samples back and forth.
• Creates a named event, which is a shared resource that is used for synchronizing time.
• Saves configuration settings to the registry.

Event Details

Resolve

Address system issues

You can safely ignore an instance of Microsoft-Windows-TimeService Event ID 46 in the Event Viewer, if it appears immediately after upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 or from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2.

If you have not already enabled Windows Time service logging, do so now. Then, restart the Windows Time service and review the Windows Time service log to see if there are specific components that cannot be updated.

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. At the command prompt, 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.

Restart the Windows Time service

To restart the Windows Time service:

1. Click Start. In Start Search, type services.msc, and then press ENTER. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue. The Services snap-in opens.
2. In the list of services, right-click Windows Time, and then click Restart.

Review the Windows Time log file

To review the Windows Time log file:

1. Open the w32time.log file in Notepad. 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. You can reset the original default Windows Time registry values by unregistering and registering the W32time service.

To unregister and register the W32time 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 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.

Post-troubleshooting cleanup

You can disable Windows Time debug logging by running the command W32tm /debug /disable.

When troubleshooting is complete, you can also remove the c:\w32time folder and w32time.log file.

To remove the folder and log file:

1. To remove the log file, you must first stop the Windows Time service. To stop the Windows Time 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. To start the Windows Time service again, at the command prompt, type net start w32time, and then press ENTER.
4. Close the command prompt.

To learn more about the Windows Time service and related tools, see Windows Time Service Tools and Settings (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=42984).

Verify

To verify that the Windows Time service is functioning properly, restart the service, and then check Event Viewer for entries that indicate a successful restart and system time synchronization.

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 functioning properly:

1. Click Start. In Start Search, type services.msc, and then click OK. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
2. In the list of services, right-click Windows Time, and then click Restart.

When the service restarts successfully, the Service Control Manager reports that the Windows Time service has entered the running state (Event ID 7036) in the Event Viewer. The W32Time source in Event Viewer also reports that the Windows Time service is successfully receiving and synchronizing its clock (Event IDs 37 and 35, respectively).

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

Related Management Information

Service Status and Configuration

Active Directory