Changing TimeZone in Windows via Command Line and PowerShell

Besides the actual time and date, Time Zone is one of the basic time settings in any computer system. If you want the time to be displayed correctly, the Time Zone should be set according to the geographic location of the computer.

In Windows OSs family, it is easier to change the time zone directly via the graphical interface by clicking the clock in the system tray and selecting Change date and time settings. Next you need to click Change Time Zone button, choose a suitable time zone from the list of available time zones, and then save the changes.

In Windows 10, the window for changing the time zone settings has been moved to the Settings app (Time and Language -> Date and Time). To call it, you can right-click on the clock icon and select the Adjust date/time option in the menu.

Also you can change the time zone in Windows from the command line or PowerShell console. The exact way depends on your Windows version. Let’s consider the possible variants.

Allow or Prevent Users from Changing the Time Zone

By default, a user doesn’t need the administrator permissions to change the time zone (unlike changing date/time). This behavior can be changed using Local Security Settings console (secpol.msc). Go to Security Settings -> Local Policy -> User Rights Assignment. The policy is called Change the time zone. As you can see, time zone can be changed by the system itself, administrators and all users. To prevent users from changing the time zone, remove Users group from the list of accounts in this policy.

TZUtil.exe: How to Change the Time Zone in Windows 10, 8.1 and 7?

To change the time zone in Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 and Windows Server 2016/ 2012 R2/ 2008 R2, a special command line tool tzutil.exe (Windows Time Zone Utility) is used. It first appeared in Windows 7 (in Vista/ Windows Server 2008 it is installed using a separate update KB 2556308.) Utility is located in %WINDIR%\System32 directory.

Let’s consider the features and peculiarities of TZUtil.exe tool.

Run the command prompt (cmd.exe). To find out the current time zone and its identifier (TimeZoneID), run the command:

tzutil /g

In this example, Pacific Standard Time is the current time zone identifier.

Display the list of all available time zones as follows:

tzutil /l


TimeZone Id | TimeZone DisplayName
Dateline Standard Time | (UTC-12:00) International Date Line West
UTC-11 | (UTC-11:00) Coordinated Universal Time-11
Aleutian Standard Time | (UTC-10:00) Aleutian Islands
Hawaiian Standard Time | (UTC-10:00) Hawaii
Marquesas Standard Time | (UTC-09:30) Marquesas Islands
Alaskan Standard Time | (UTC-09:00) Alaska
UTC-09 | (UTC-09:00) Coordinated Universal Time-09
Pacific Standard Time (Mexico) | (UTC-08:00) Baja California
UTC-08 | (UTC-08:00) Coordinated Universal Time-08
Pacific Standard Time | (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
US Mountain Standard Time | (UTC-07:00) Arizona
Mountain Standard Time (Mexico) | (UTC-07:00) Chihuahua, La Paz, Mazatlan
Mountain Standard Time | (UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)
Central America Standard Time | (UTC-06:00) Central America
Central Standard Time | (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)
Easter Island Standard Time | (UTC-06:00) Easter Island
Central Standard Time (Mexico) | (UTC-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
Canada Central Standard Time | (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan
SA Pacific Standard Time | (UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco
Eastern Standard Time (Mexico) | (UTC-05:00) Chetumal
Eastern Standard Time | (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Haiti Standard Time | (UTC-05:00) Haiti
Cuba Standard Time | (UTC-05:00) Havana
US Eastern Standard Time | (UTC-05:00) Indiana (East)
Turks And Caicos Standard Time | (UTC-05:00) Turks and Caicos
Paraguay Standard Time | (UTC-04:00) Asuncion
Atlantic Standard Time | (UTC-04:00) Atlantic Time (Canada)
Venezuela Standard Time | (UTC-04:00) Caracas
Central Brazilian Standard Time | (UTC-04:00) Cuiaba
SA Western Standard Time | (UTC-04:00) Georgetown, La Paz, Manaus, San Juan
Pacific SA Standard Time | (UTC-04:00) Santiago
Newfoundland Standard Time | (UTC-03:30) Newfoundland
Tocantins Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Araguaina
E. South America Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Brasilia
SA Eastern Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Cayenne, Fortaleza
Argentina Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) City of Buenos Aires
Greenland Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Greenland
Montevideo Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Montevideo
Magallanes Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Punta Arenas
Saint Pierre Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Bahia Standard Time | (UTC-03:00) Salvador
UTC-02 | (UTC-02:00) Coordinated Universal Time-02
Mid-Atlantic Standard Time | (UTC-02:00) Mid-Atlantic - Old
Azores Standard Time | (UTC-01:00) Azores
Cape Verde Standard Time | (UTC-01:00) Cabo Verde Is.
UTC | (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time
Morocco Standard Time | (UTC+00:00) Casablanca
GMT Standard Time | (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
Greenwich Standard Time | (UTC+00:00) Monrovia, Reykjavik
W. Europe Standard Time | (UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
Central Europe Standard Time | (UTC+01:00) Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague
Romance Standard Time | (UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris
Sao Tome Standard Time | (UTC+01:00) Sao Tome
Central European Standard Time | (UTC+01:00) Sarajevo, Skopje, Warsaw, Zagreb
W. Central Africa Standard Time | (UTC+01:00) West Central Africa
Jordan Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Amman
GTB Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Athens, Bucharest
Middle East Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Beirut
Egypt Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Cairo
E. Europe Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Chisinau
Syria Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Damascus
West Bank Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Gaza, Hebron
South Africa Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Harare, Pretoria
FLE Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius
Israel Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Jerusalem
Kaliningrad Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Kaliningrad
Sudan Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Khartoum
Libya Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Tripoli
Namibia Standard Time | (UTC+02:00) Windhoek
Arabic Standard Time | (UTC+03:00) Baghdad
Turkey Standard Time | (UTC+03:00) Istanbul
Arab Standard Time | (UTC+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh
Belarus Standard Time | (UTC+03:00) Minsk
Russian Standard Time | (UTC+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd
E. Africa Standard Time | (UTC+03:00) Nairobi
Iran Standard Time | (UTC+03:30) Tehran
Arabian Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Abu Dhabi, Muscat
Astrakhan Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Astrakhan, Ulyanovsk
Azerbaijan Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Baku
Russia Time Zone 3 | (UTC+04:00) Izhevsk, Samara
Mauritius Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Port Louis
Saratov Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Saratov
Georgian Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Tbilisi
Caucasus Standard Time | (UTC+04:00) Yerevan
Afghanistan Standard Time | (UTC+04:30) Kabul
West Asia Standard Time | (UTC+05:00) Ashgabat, Tashkent
Ekaterinburg Standard Time | (UTC+05:00) Ekaterinburg
Pakistan Standard Time | (UTC+05:00) Islamabad, Karachi
India Standard Time | (UTC+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi
Sri Lanka Standard Time | (UTC+05:30) Sri Jayawardenepura
Nepal Standard Time | (UTC+05:45) Kathmandu
Central Asia Standard Time | (UTC+06:00) Astana
Bangladesh Standard Time | (UTC+06:00) Dhaka
Omsk Standard Time | (UTC+06:00) Omsk
Myanmar Standard Time | (UTC+06:30) Yangon (Rangoon)
SE Asia Standard Time | (UTC+07:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta
Altai Standard Time | (UTC+07:00) Barnaul, Gorno-Altaysk
W. Mongolia Standard Time | (UTC+07:00) Hovd
North Asia Standard Time | (UTC+07:00) Krasnoyarsk
N. Central Asia Standard Time | (UTC+07:00) Novosibirsk
Tomsk Standard Time | (UTC+07:00) Tomsk
China Standard Time | (UTC+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi
North Asia East Standard Time | (UTC+08:00) Irkutsk
Singapore Standard Time | (UTC+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore
W. Australia Standard Time | (UTC+08:00) Perth
Taipei Standard Time | (UTC+08:00) Taipei
Ulaanbaatar Standard Time | (UTC+08:00) Ulaanbaatar
North Korea Standard Time | (UTC+08:30) Pyongyang
Aus Central W. Standard Time | (UTC+08:45) Eucla
Transbaikal Standard Time | (UTC+09:00) Chita
Tokyo Standard Time | (UTC+09:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
Korea Standard Time | (UTC+09:00) Seoul
Yakutsk Standard Time | (UTC+09:00) Yakutsk
Cen. Australia Standard Time | (UTC+09:30) Adelaide
AUS Central Standard Time | (UTC+09:30) Darwin
E. Australia Standard Time | (UTC+10:00) Brisbane
AUS Eastern Standard Time | (UTC+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
West Pacific Standard Time | (UTC+10:00) Guam, Port Moresby
Tasmania Standard Time | (UTC+10:00) Hobart
Vladivostok Standard Time | (UTC+10:00) Vladivostok
Lord Howe Standard Time | (UTC+10:30) Lord Howe Island
Bougainville Standard Time | (UTC+11:00) Bougainville Island
Russia Time Zone 10 | (UTC+11:00) Chokurdakh
Magadan Standard Time | (UTC+11:00) Magadan
Norfolk Standard Time | (UTC+11:00) Norfolk Island
Sakhalin Standard Time | (UTC+11:00) Sakhalin
Central Pacific Standard Time | (UTC+11:00) Solomon Is., New Caledonia
Russia Time Zone 11 | (UTC+12:00) Anadyr, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
New Zealand Standard Time | (UTC+12:00) Auckland, Wellington
UTC+12 | (UTC+12:00) Coordinated Universal Time+12
Fiji Standard Time | (UTC+12:00) Fiji
Kamchatka Standard Time | (UTC+12:00) Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Old
Chatham Islands Standard Time | (UTC+12:45) Chatham Islands
UTC+13 | (UTC+13:00) Coordinated Universal Time+13
Tonga Standard Time | (UTC+13:00) Nuku'alofa
Samoa Standard Time | (UTC+13:00) Samoa
Line Islands Standard Time | (UTC+14:00) Kiritimati Island

If you want to quickly find all available time zones (for example, with a UTC -6 offset), run the command:

tzutil /l | find /I "utc-06"

Change the current time zone to (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada):

tzutil /s "Eastern Standard Time"

Check that the current time zone has changed in the registry:

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

To disable daylight saving time for a specific timezone, you must specify a time zone identifier with the suffix _dstoff, for example:

tzutil /s “Central European Standard Time_dstoff”

After executing this command, you will change the current time zone of the computer and disable the seasonal clock change.

You can also display information about the time zone and daylight saving time settings using the command:

w32tm /tz

Time zone: Current:TIME_ZONE_ID_UNKNOWN Bias: 480min (UTC=LocalTime+Bias)
[Standard Name:"Pacific Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(unspecified)]
[Daylight Name:"Pacific Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(unspecified)]

Time Zone Management in PowerShell

You can get the current time zone settings from the PowerShell console. Run the command:

[TimeZoneInfo]::Local

Or

Get-TimeZone

Id                         : Pacific Standard Time
DisplayName                : (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
StandardName               : Pacific Standard Time
DaylightName               : Pacific Standard Time
BaseUtcOffset              : -08:00:00
SupportsDaylightSavingTime : False

To view all the possible time zones available in Windows, you can use the PowerShell command:

[System.TimeZoneInfo]::GetSystemTimeZones()
or
Get-TimeZone -ListAvailable

To change the time zone from PowerShell, run the command:

Set-TimeZone -Name "US Eastern Standard Time"

How to Change the TimeZone in Windows XP from the CMD?

In Windows the information about the value of the current time zone is stored in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation.

For example, in our case you can see that Romance Daylight Time is currently used.

The same information can be obtained with the following query:

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

The list of available time zones in Windows XP / Windows Server 2003 is stored in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones.

To change the current time zone to Central America Standard Time (GMT-06:00 – Central America), use the command:

RunDLL32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL timedate.cpl,,/Z Central America Standard Time

Or:

Control.exe TIMEDATE.CPL,,/Z Central America Standard Time

Make sure that the time zone has been changed:

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

Script to Change the TimeZone Using GPO

Let’s consider a generic PowerShell script that allows to change the time zone on any computer (the script suggests that Windows XP / Windows Server 2003 computers still exist in your network). This script can be assigned using group policies to all domain computers or a certain organizational units (OU). The script determines the OS version, and if it is Windows Vista or later, it uses tzutil.exe to change the time zone. In the other case the time zone is changed using RunDLL32.exe (Windows XP).
$timeZone = "Central Europe Daylight Time"
$WinOSVerReg = Get-Item "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion"
$WinOSVer = $WinOSVerReg.GetValue("CurrentVersion")
if ($WinOSVer -GE 6){
tzutil.exe /s $timeZone
} Else {
$params = "/c Start `"Change timeZone`" /MIN %WINDIR%\System32\Control.exe TIMEDATE.CPL,,/Z "
$params += $timeZone
$proc = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start( "CMD.exe", $params )
}