We have already seen how to change the Windows Internet Time Update Interval. But maybe your Windows Time is wrong and not synchronizing – or maybe you cannot configure your Windows Internet time settings to automatically synchronize with an Internet time server, like, say, time.windows.com. While you may be able to manually synchronize the time by clicking on Update now, you may find that it just does not do so automatically.
Error occurred while Windows was synchronizing Time on Windows
Before we start troubleshooting this issue, it would be a good idea to run the System File Checker. To do so, you have to type sfc /scannow in an elevated CMD and hit Enter. Wait for a while and restart your Windows computer when the job is completed. Once you have done this, we can try to troubleshoot the Windows Time synchronization problem.
Windows Time synchronization not working
To change your Time settings, click on Time on the right side of the taskbar and select date and time settings. The synchronization settings are under the Internet Time tab.
The Windows Time service is not working
If your Windows Clock Time is wrong, the first thing to do is to find out if your Windows Time service is set on Automatic and Started; you may see the error message: The Windows Time service is not running.
Fix Date and Time not syncing
To do so, type services.msc in Start Search and hit Enter. In Services Manager, navigate to Windows Time service and double-click on it.
Check and see if it is Started and set on Automatic. If not, change the startup type to Automatic and click on Apply/OK.
If this works, great. Start the service and exit. This should be the end of your problems. If not, and you get error messages, read on!
Windows Time service fails to start with Error 1079
If you find that the Windows Time service fails to start with Error 1079, you may want to ensure that the service is being started by the Local System account instead of by the Local Service account (NT AUTHORITY\LocalService). More details on this here.
The system cannot find the path specified
You get an error box: The system cannot find the path specified.
In such a case, you may want to re-register dll file. The concerned dll file here is w3time.dll. To do so, open a command prompt as an Administrator, type regsvr32 w32time.dll and hit Enter.
If this works, fine; else, do you still get this message?
The module w32time.dll was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with the error code 0x80070003
You may then want to register the Windows Time file, W32tm.exe, and see if this helps.
W32tm.exe, located in the System32 folder, is used to configure Windows Time service settings and diagnose problems with the service. It is the preferred command-line tool for configuring, monitoring, or troubleshooting the Windows Time service. You can check out all its parameters here at TechNet.
We will use the /register parameter. This parameter, when run for W32tm.exe, registers the time service to run as a service and adds the default configuration to the registry.
To do so, in an elevated command prompt, type these commands one after the other and hit Enter:
net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
Read:
- Windows Server unable to change the time zone
- The computer did not resync because no time data was available
Force Windows to sync Time using CMD
You can also force Windows to sync Time using W32tm.exe. W32tm.exe is a command prompt line used to configure, monitor or troubleshoot the Windows Time Service in Windows 11/10 PC.
To do this, open an elevated command prompt and type the following commands one after the other:
net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
net start w32time
w32tm /resync
Reboot your computer and see if it has helped.
See if this helps resolve your issue; if not, you may again get this error message while registering w32tm.exe:
The following error occurred: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x80070003)
Do ensure that you are signed in as an administrator and opened the command prompt as an administrator – but you may get the error, even if you have complied with these requirements.
In such an eventuality, you will have to open your Registry Editor.
Once you have opened regedit, navigate to the following registry key:
HKLM\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl\services\TapiSrv
Now in the right pane right-click on ImagePath and select Modify. Here in the Value data box, make sure that the value is:
%SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k NetworkService
Click OK and exit.
I hope something helps!
If nothing helps, you use another Time Server, make use of some free Time synchronization software or then try to reset Windows and see if it helps you. If you do not want to consider this last option, The only practical advice I can give you is to uncheck the Synchronize with an Internet time server box, set the time manually and then check on it once in a while!
