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q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

When I have been in Q4OS and change to Windows 7 - the clock changes to the local time minus 2 hours.
I can change it manually but would like to have it stay correctly automatically.
I have a multiboot system with Windows, Mint and Q4OS. The multiboot system is set up in Q4OS.
Both the clocks say that the time is set to local time.
Can this be fixed? If so, how?
Please see solution (for me) at bottom.

Last edited by q4osfan (2018-04-09 12:22)

Dai_trying

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2015-12-14

Posts: 2,992

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

Have you set your timezone? you can right click the time in the system tray and select Configure Clock, select the timezones tab and select your timezone and it should keep it accurate. There is also the possibility that Windows is saving the system time as "LOCAL" and not "UTC" which might also upset the displayed time as Linux's usually default to reading (and setting) the system time as UTC.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,501

Website

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

The most proper way to set the timezone globally in Q4OS is to use following command in terminal:
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

Thank you, both of you!
The timezone is set correctly in both systems.
In the Windows(7) configure clock window there is no option called "local" but only one option which seems to include both local and UTC. It says

"(UTC +0.100) Copenhagen ... Paris"

(the reason it is not +02.00 I suppose is that there is summer time - CEST - Central Europe Summer Time).

But when I come from Q4OS and reboot into Windows7 the time changes to what Q4OS calls universal (UTC) which is 2 hours before the local time. Even though it is set correctly in Q4OS before the change.
I've also tried the command sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata - the results are in the next post (in a short while - I've got to change to Q4OS to show it )
But it doesn't solve the problem.

Last edited by q4osfan (2018-04-07 09:57)

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

Here is the result of the sudo command:

root@jfogscomp:~# sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Current default time zone: 'Europe/Copenhagen'
Local time is now:      Sat Apr  7 10:26:04 CEST 2018.
Universal Time is now:  Sat Apr  7 08:26:04 UTC 2018.

As you can see there is a time difference. Now my Q4OS time shows the correct time (10:26 - in the bottom right corner). But when I reboot into Windows (which is also set correctly - please see last post) - the Windows time changes to 08:26 (= the Universal Time in Q4OS).

Strange...

Last edited by q4osfan (2018-04-07 09:53)

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,501

Website

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

The proper configuration should be as follows, we can see nothing strange:

- Hardware clock permanently set to UTC in BIOS. Any computer should know the universal time due to various synchronization tasks and to be independent on the timezone. It seems to be configured correctly within your system.

- Q4OS system should have set your current timezone, to show the local clock properly. We assume, from the previous post, you have set it by the 'dpkg-reconfigure' command, and it's correct (UTC+2h).

- Your Windows installation seems to show the UTC clock only. So you need to configure Windows the same way as Q4OS - to calculate local time from the hardware clock (UTC). Unfortunately we don't know how to manage that, maybe someone else could provide an advice ?

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

The proper configuration should be as follows, we can see nothing strange:

- Hardware clock permanently set to UTC in BIOS. Any computer should know the universal time due to various synchronization tasks and to be independent on the timezone. It seems to be configured correctly within your system.

- Q4OS system should have set your current timezone, to show the local clock properly. We assume, from the previous post, you have set it by the 'dpkg-reconfigure' command, and it's correct (UTC+2h).

- Your Windows installation seems to show the UTC clock only. So you need to configure Windows the same way as Q4OS - to calculate local time from the hardware clock (UTC). Unfortunately we don't know how to manage that, maybe someone else could provide an advice ?

Thanks!
Looking forward to someone else's advice

Dai_trying

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2015-12-14

Posts: 2,992

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

There appears to be many ways to set Windows to use the time "correctly" this Stack Overflow question should help you although it is aimed at Win 10 so you might need to adjust the instructions for your windows version. There are a lot of other search results available if you search for "set Windows to use UTC".

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

Yes - thanks.

I also found this:
https://www.howtogeek.com/323390/how-to … l-booting/

which has two solutions. But as there are problems with both, perhaps I should just leave it. It's not that big a deal to change Windows' time when coming from Q4OS

Dai_trying

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2015-12-14

Posts: 2,992

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

If I remember right Windows will update from network and so will get correct time and set it, and I think (not 100% sure) Q4OS will do the same, so the time should auto correct itself once it has the network information meaning it would only be wrong for a minute or two (if you are online), so shouldn't cause too many problems...

And if Q4OS doesn't get network time you could always use ntp to get it for you.

JimW

Member

Registered: 2015-12-08

Posts: 400

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

One problem with that Dia. I have Windows 8.1 dual booting with Q4OS (from the windows installer). When I exit Q4OS I usually click the restart and leave the laptop. Sometimes it may be a day or two before I get on the laptop again. Windows login splash screen during that time is showing the wrong time!
As said, not a big problem. Just something I noticed and haven't even tried to correct.

Dai_trying

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2015-12-14

Posts: 2,992

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

I just ran a couple of tests on my laptop using Win 10 and Q4OS and here is what I did and my findings...

Boot from cold (last boot was Q4OS)
Check BIOS(UEFI) time it was set to UTC (local -1)
Boot to Win10, time on splash-screen local (UTC +1) (network was connected)
reboot machine and go to BIOS, time set to local (UTC +1)
boot to Q4OS (auto-login) time set to local
reboot to BIOS, time set to UTC
Boot to Win10 Splash set to UTC (network not connected)
log into Win10 after a while time gets updated to local (after network connected)
reboot to BIOS time set to local

and so the cycle continues, but on my computer the time is updated before I notice unless there is not a network connection, so only problem for me is the BIOS time could be either local or UTC depending on which was the last OS to be used. I say problem but it isn't really a problem as I rarely have to go into the settings unless I have another issue with the system.

The connection on this laptop is WiFi only, so I'm guessing the switching back and forth was the reason the second boot of Win10 failed to get a network connection (and therefore the correct time) before the splash-screen showed

These are just a few very un-scientific tests and it could be very different on other hardware but thought I would just let you all know what I found out.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,501

Website

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

While Debian/Q4OS prefer to keep the hardware clock in UTC (this prevents the need to change it on daylight savings and timezone changes) other systems (like Windows) by default keeps the hardware clock synchronized to local time ... Edit /etc/adjtime, and change "UTC" to "LOCAL" if you want the hardware clock to be kept at local time instead of UTC.

Please read https://wiki.debian.org/DateTime#Hardwa … al_booting

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

Thanks to all!

@Q4osteam: Looks good. Think I'll try that. Update: Tried it. Windows time is still wrong when coming from Q4OS (perhaps I misunderstood something). Update 2: It now works! (seems a reboot was necessary for the change to take effect?)

@others: I read about the internet update of the time in Windows(7). It is usually set to update about once a week! It is set in number of seconds, and you can change it to update more frequently.
When going from Q4OS to Windows7 - if you go to the clock setting and "Update now" it will set the correct time even if it is wrong at start. Update: I tried this again - and it even says: "Next update [date - in about a week]". As I remember the method to change the update frequency in Windows involves a registry edit.

I also noticed that when I come from Windows7 and go to Q4OS the time after perhaps 1 minute adjusts itself to the correct time.

With Mint 17.2 there are no problems regarding shifting from or to Windows 7 (with my setup, of course).

Last edited by q4osfan (2018-04-08 16:42)

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

Re post above:

@Q4osteam: Looks good. Think I'll try that. Update: Tried it. Windows time is still wrong when coming from Q4OS (perhaps I misunderstood something). Update: It now works! (seems a reboot was necessary for the change to take effect?)

Last edited by q4osfan (2018-04-08 16:45)

q4osfan

Member

Registered: 2018-02-25

Posts: 70

Re: The clock changes in Windows after being in Q4OS [Solved]

While Debian/Q4OS prefer to keep the hardware clock in UTC (this prevents the need to change it on daylight savings and timezone changes) other systems (like Windows) by default keeps the hardware clock synchronized to local time ... Edit /etc/adjtime, and change "UTC" to "LOCAL" if you want the hardware clock to be kept at local time instead of UTC.

Please read https://wiki.debian.org/DateTime#Hardwa … al_booting

So to make it easier to find for people looking here later - the above is the solution that worked for me.
Thanks!