Most of the time Windows users are able to change the date, and time, especially in a single-user scenario where it has administrative privileges. If you have a case where you are an Administrator, and you don’t want anyone to change the date and time, you can easily prevent users from changing the date and time format in Windows 11/10.
This scenario is very common in a company where administrators need to make sure that all the PCs are in sync for applications to work. This also makes sure security is at par. One way is to create only a standard user account, but if you have multiple admins, you can prevent them from changing the date and time in Windows 11/10, except for yourself.
If you want to lock your system time and date, you can prevent users from changing them in Windows 11/10 using the Registry or Group Policy. You can also choose to disable it for one particular user. Before we go ahead, make sure you create a system restore point—which will be helpful if anything goes wrong.
Prevent Users from changing the Date and Time
There are two methods to do this: changing registry keys and using the group admin policy. For the group policy method, you will need to have Pro, Education, and Enterprise editions. Use the following methods to prevent users from changing the date and time format on Windows 11/10.
- Using the Registry Editor
- Using the Local Group Policy Editor
Below, we have explained all these fixes in detail.
1] Prevent Users from changing Date & Time using Registry Editor
Open the Run prompt (Windows Key + R ), and then type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft
Now, expand the Microsoft key and then expand the Control Panel key. If the Control Panel subkey is not present there, you have to create it manually. For this, right-click on the Microsoft key and select New > Key. Name this key as Control Panel. Then again right-click on Control Panel, and then create another Key and name it as International.
Now right-click on the International key then select New > DWORD (32-bit) value.
Name this newly created DWORD as PreventUserOverrides then double-click on it and give it a value of 1. The options are:
- 0 = Enable (Allow users to change the date and time)
- 1 = Disable (Prevent users from changing the date and time)
Similarly, follow the same procedure to inside the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Control Panel\International
Once finished, close everything and reboot your PC to save changes.
2] Prevent users from changing Date & Time using Group Policy Editor
Note: Local Group Policy Editor isn’t available in Windows 11/10 Home edition users, so this method is only for Pro, Education, and Enterprise edition users.
Open the Run prompt (Windows Key + R ), then type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Locale Services.
Double-click on Disallow user override of locale settings policy.
To Enable Changing Date and Time Formats for All Users: Select Not Configured or Disabled.
To Disable Changing Date and Time Formats for All Users: Select Enabled.
Apply, and then click on OK and exit. Restart your system.
This policy change will prevent the user from customizing their locale by changing their user overrides. If there are any user-specific settings, it will override them. You must reset it from here first, and then the local policy will change.
Now, here is one thing you should know. When it is enabled aka Prevent mode, the local users can still choose alternate locales installed on the system unless prevented by other policies. However, they will be unable to customize those choices.
The drawback of this system is that it will be applied to all. If you want to do it for one single user, we need to set this policy on a per-user basis and make sure that the pre-computer policy is set to Not Configured.
Prevent particular User from changing Date & Time using Group Policy Editor
To do this, we will have to load the group policy object editor from the Microsoft Management Console.
Open mmc.exe from the run prompt. This will launch the MMC console.
Click File > Add/remove snapin > Add Group Policy Object Editor and click the Add button
In the dialog that appears, click “Browse”.
Click the “Users” tab and select a user.
Now follow the same path but under User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Locale Services.
Double-click on Disallow user override of locale settings policy.
To Enable Changing Date and Time Formats for All Users: Select Not Configured or Disabled.
To Disable Changing Date and Time Formats for All Users: Select Enabled.
The last method is the most effective method as you can target one particular user instead of one particular admin. As users grow up, some are perfect to be admin while others are still learning. This is why you need to disable them on a per-user basis, instead of changing them for all the users on the PC.
I hope this helps!
How do I prevent users from modifying settings?
In Windows 11/10, the Registry Editor and Local Group Policy Editor allow you to prevent users from changing some settings. The Registry Editor is available for all Windows users. However, the Local Group Policy Editor is not available if you have Windows 11/10 Home Edition. To use the Local Group Policy Editor, you have to upgrade your Windows 11/10 Home license.
How do I limit user time in Windows?
In Windows 11/10, you can set a time limit for different users. For this, you can use the Net User command in the elevated Command Prompt window. Net User is a command-line tool that helps system administrators add or modify user account behavior. If the user is your family member, you can use the Microsoft Family app. For this, you have to add that user to your Microsoft Family account.
Read next: Windows Time keeps changing by itself.
