Configuring the Windows Time service to use an external time source

UPDATE TO THIS POST:

Baydon Rowe has create a nice little script to make these changes for you!

Download now

Kudos to Baydon for the hard work! You can visit his .NET blog here.

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I find many a times, from lack of knowledge, or lavishness, people don’t configure their domain’s correctly. I’m currently repairing a DC for issues that we’re easily avoidable.

One of the things you should configure is your Time Source on your Domain Controller holding the PDC emulator FSMO role.

Here’s how to do it.

Configuring the Windows Time service to use an external time source

To configure an internal time server to synchronize with an external time source, follow these steps:

1. Change the server type to NTP. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
   2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type
   3. In the right pane, right-click Type, and then click Modify.
   4. In Edit Value, type NTP in the Value data box, and then click OK.
2. Set AnnounceFlags to 5. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags
   2. In the right pane, right-click AnnounceFlags, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, type 5 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
3. Enable NTPServer. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer
   2. In the right pane, right-click Enabled, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
4. Specify the time sources. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters
   2. In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit Value, type Peers in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      Note Peers is a placeholder for a space-delimited list of peers from which your computer obtains time stamps. Each DNS name that is listed must be unique. You must append ,0×1 to the end of each DNS name. If you do not append ,0×1 to the end of each DNS name, the changes made in step 5 will not take effect.
5. Select the poll interval. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient\SpecialPollInterval
   2. In the right pane, right-click SpecialPollInterval, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for the number of seconds that you want between each poll. A recommended value is 900 Decimal. This value configures the Time Server to poll every 15 minutes.
6. Configure the time correction settings. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\MaxPosPhaseCorrection
   2. In the right pane, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, click to select Decimal in the Base box.
   4. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for a reasonable value, such as 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800). The value that you select will depend upon the poll interval, network condition, and external time source.
   5. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\MaxNegPhaseCorrection
   6. In the right pane, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, and then click Modify.
   7. In Edit DWORD Value, click to select Decimal in the Base box.
   8. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for a reasonable value, such as 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800). The value that you select will depend upon the poll interval, network condition, and external time source.
7. Quit Registry Editor.
8. At the command prompt, type the following command to restart the Windows Time service, and then press ENTER:net stop w32time && net start w32time

After you finish restarting the w32time service, check your system event log for the following two Information Logs for the w32Time Service.

1.The time service is now synchronizing the system time with the time source VM IC Time Synchronization Provider.

2.The time provider NtpClient is currently receiving valid time data from time.windows.com (ntp.m|0×1|10.0.0.67:123->207.46.197.32:123).