Fix Windows and macOS Showing Different Times When Dual Booting


If your system dual boots both Windows and macOS, you might notice that it’s impossible to get the system clocks to sync. No matter how you change the clock in one OS, it doesn’t fix the problem with the other OS. This is because of a disagreement about time-keeping methodology between Windows and Unix-based operating systems. Fortunately, there’s a relatively easy fix for Windows and macOS showing different times when dual booting. You will need to make some registry changes in Windows, but if you follow the instructions carefully you shouldn’t have any problems.

Why does this happen?

Your computer stores the current time in a clock on your motherboard. This allows the computer to keep track of time even when turned off. To account for time zones, different operating systems use different methods. Windows assumes the local time is stored in the motherboard, so it doesn’t apply any kind of time zone offset. macOS, on the other hand, will interpret the time on the motherboard as UTC (a.k.a. Universal Time Code or Greenwich Mean Time) and apply a timezone offset to display local time.

Both of these systems work perfectly fine independently. The problem occurs when you dual boot a system, running Windows and macOS off the same motherboard. When the operating systems are forced to share a time store, the clocks won’t sync. Without changing the way one of the operating systems interpret the motherboard time, you’ll never get them to agree.

 

Fix Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

You can also change the way that Windows views system time. This tweak will cause Windows to interpret the time stored on the motherboard as UTC, which macOS can then interpret as the correct time zone. While this generally works well, some applications rely on motherboard time being local time. As a result, hard-to-track bugs can sometimes appear. That makes this option slightly less desirable than the first.

1. Disable “Set time automatically” under “Time & Language” in the Settings application.  You can find this app through Control Panel, or by typing “Settings” into the Start Menu’s search field. Adjusting this will prevent Windows from reverting the changes we’re about to make.

Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

2. Open Registry Editor by typing “regedit” in the Start Menu.

Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

If you haven’t edited the registry right now, this is your formal warning to be careful! The registry is similar to sudo on macOS. It gives the user access to powerful, system defining tools. This makes sweeping, permanent changes possible. But if you make the wrong change, you might damage you system badly. Follow the instructions below exactly and you won’t have issues, but do take care.

3. Find the following registry key in the left pane of the registry editor. You can do this by opening the appropriate folders in the left pane. If you want to get there quickly, paste the location into the registry editor’s address bar:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

4. Right-click on the “TimeZoneInformation” key in the left pane and chose “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” from the context menu. This will create a new entry in the registry editor, which we will use to set the appropriate time.

Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

5. Name your new value “RealTimeIsUniversal.” We recommend you copy and paste this to make sure the spelling and spacing is correct.

Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

6. Double-click on the value you just created, set its value to “1,” and click “OK.” This tweak will force the Windows operating system to interpret the time value on the motherboard as real time, instead of applying time zone adjustments to that value.

Windows and macOS Showing Different TimesBonus Points: Syncing the Linux Clock

If you’ve got a triple-boot system, there’s also a way to sync Linux up to Window’s method of time-keeping. This won’t fix your problems in macOS, however, so the above solution is still superior.

The most reliable way to make Linux and Windows agree on the time is to change Linux’s time keeping methodology. While this isn’t explicitly supported, it’s slightly more reliable than doing the same in Windows. It works on any flavor of Linux using systemd, which includes Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, Debian, and Mint. Changing the Windows time typically works fine too, but it can sometimes lead to instabilities in third-party software that expects the stored time to be local time.

1. Open Terminal and run the following command:

timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

Windows and macOS Showing Different Times

This will tell the system to interpret your motherboard’s stored time as local time. Linux will no longer apply time zone adjustments to the time stored on the motherboard. As a result, your clocks will sync.

If you ever need to reverse the command, change the 1 to a 0:

timedatectl set-local-rtc 0 --adjust-system-clock

Conclusion

The safest way to sync your system clocks on a dual-booting system is to adjust how macOS interprets time. If that doesn’t work for you, you can also edit the Windows registry to change the way Windows understands motherboard time.

You might also be interested in the following posts:

Why Are There Hidden Files in my macOS Home Directory?

7 Apps to Make Switching from macOS to Windows Easier

How to Run Windows on Your Mac With Boot Camp


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

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  1. A Twitter post had the info for Ubuntu so we were checking before we ran it and found the article. We’ve got 4 OS (Windows, Ubuntu, macOS and PrimeOS) boting on one drive across partitions and will let you know how it works out.