Windows Time

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ae...@proton.me

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Sep 21, 2025, 9:55:43 PM (9 days ago) Sep 21

to WVDXA DX Reflector

Here's how I set up my Internet connected Windows systems based on my professional experience, no extra software, just configuring the built in functionality to do what I want it to do, which works well for WSJT-X modes.

Run a command prompt as administrator

First - set the service to automatic

> sc config w32time start=auto

Configure the time service to use to use a manually configured set of NTP servers

> w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"pool.ntp.org,0x8 time.nist.gov,0x8" /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update

Speed up the update interval

> reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\w32time\config /v UpdateInterval /t REG_DWORD /d 64

restart the service

> net stop w32time && net start w32time

In late 1999, Microsoft was changing things up a bit with how they handled time, basically a complete rewrite of the TimeServ service. I was working on a project for a big financial institution's transition to Windows 2000, and time was one of my areas of responsibility so I had to learn it in and out. In finance, sub second timing was becoming more and more important, and for basic IT operations, Windows 2000 was much less forgiving to time mismatches as Windows NT was. The w32tm utility was added with Windows XP and server 2003, making it a little easier to manage. All of this carries forward to current versions of Windows with a few updates here and there.