nt4+sp4.timedate.txt

`Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 12:52:43 -0000  
From: [email protected]  
To: [email protected]  
Subject: Re: Bug with NT4SP4 (possibly the TIMEDATE.CPL applet)  
  
Here's a follow up to my post on the timezone problem:  
  
Quite a few people e-mailed me with suggestions/solutions,  
they had come up with, including some who had faced similar  
problems.  
  
Here's my original message:  
(feel free to cut it out Russ, if you want to).  
  
> -----Original Message-----  
> From: BI301 Jóhann Ólafur Jökulsson   
> Sent: 6. apríl 1999 21:19  
> To: [email protected]  
> Subject: Bug with NT4SP4 (possibly the TIMEDATE.CPL applet)  
>   
>   
> We were in the process of rolling out SP4 when the following came up:  
>   
> After running SP4 on our test network for a few months with nary a   
> hiccup I figured it was time to deploy it company wide. Starting with  
> local servers and workstations everything seemed to go smoothly.  
> However just before Easter strange clock settings started to appear,  
> Talk about Easter eggs :)  
>   
> We use the Monrovia/Casablanca timezone, which doesn't have the  
> summertime settings. After applying SP4, somehow the timezone  
> gets set to GMT with the tick in "Automatically adjust the clock..."  
> Which would have been fine if we used those settings here in Iceland,  
> which we don't. After verifying this to be a problem on all machines  
> that had the NT4SP4 applied we tried this on a fresh machine with just  
> the application software (Office97, Outlook98 etc.) and lo and behold,  
> we had replicated the problem. This is also a problem on our servers  
> which is not good, being a bank we _must_ have accurate times in our  
> transaction logs.  
>   
> Upon inspection we found that the Timedate.cpl had been "upgraded"  
> presumably to deal with some Y2K issues. This might be the culprit  
> and is indeed the prime suspect. It is my guess that somehow the  
> current settings aren't being read correctly when SP4 is applied to  
> the system.  
> If this is how a "simple" daylight savings time issue works out, I'd  
> better forget about any vacation time around New Years Eve :)   
>   
> A quick work around is to manually change the Timezone settings in the  
> Timedate.cpl applet. However this is not feasible to do for every   
> single computer on the WAN manually.   
  
Here's a better solution:  
  
Change the settings on one affected machine, export this key  
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation  
]  
and update your batch file/script to import that file into the registry.  
  
Here's what my Timezone_fix.reg looks like  
---Cut here---  
REGEDIT4  
  
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation  
]  
"Bias"=dword:00000000  
"StandardName"="Greenwich Standard Time"  
"StandardBias"=dword:00000000  
"StandardStart"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00  
"DaylightName"="Greenwich Standard Time"  
"DaylightBias"=dword:00000000  
"DaylightStart"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00  
"ActiveTimeBias"=dword:00000000  
---Cut here---  
  
Others arrived at the same conclusion that I did, and I would like  
to thank all the people that responded offering their help.  
Several suggested that I sync my computers using NET TIME, but that  
really didn't fix the problem "permanently" which is what I wanted.  
  
Thanks for your help people!  
  
JoJ  
  
---  
Jóhann Ó Jökulsson, Kerfisstjóri, Búnaðarbanki Íslands  
Johann O Jokulsson, System Administrator, Agricultural Bank of Iceland  
Tölvupóstur / E-mail: [email protected] | Heima / Home: [email protected]  
Sími / Phone: +(354) 525-6450, Fax: +(354) 525-6459  
  
`