How to Change the Date and Time on Windows 11

Windows automatically displays the correct date and time by connecting to the internet. This feature is enabled by default.

Sometimes, however, the date or time presented might be wrong due to a bug or an error in the syncing. Or you might want to change the time yourself manually. This guide shows you how you can do so on Windows 11.

Change the date and time from the Windows Tray

The quickest and most accessible way to change the time on Windows 11 is through the clock presented on the tray. That’s the area on the far right of the taskbar.

1. Right-click on the clock presented on the tray. Choose to Adjust date and time from the menu that pops up.

   

2. The Date & Time window will show up. If the time is wrong and the Set time automatically toggle is off, enabling it allows Windows 11 to synchronize the time value with Internet servers. If it’s already On, and you want to tweak the time manually, make sure it’s turned Off.

   

3. Disabling Set time automatically, as we saw in the previous step, will enable the Set the date and time manually option. Click on the Change button on its right to adjust the time manually.

   

4. Adjust the date and time from the Change date and time window that shows up. Then, click on Change to apply the new values.

   

Change the date and time from Settings

Time-related settings can also be found through the main Settings menu.

1. Click on the start button and click on Settings. If it isn’t visible or pinned, search for it by typing its name.

   

2. The main Settings window will show up on your screen. You’ll be on the System page by default. Select Time & language from the menu on the left.

   

3. Time & language offers four groups of further options. Select the first one, Date & time.

   

4. You’ll find yourself in the same Date & time window we saw when changing the time from the tray. You can refer to the previous section on how to proceed from here.

   

Synchronize the date and time with internet servers

Did you enable automatic synchronization, but the presented time’s still off? You can try forcing a manual synchronization.

1. Visit the Date & time settings page using one of the methods above. Make sure you flick Set time automatically to On.

   

2. Scroll down to find the Additional settings section. Click on the Sync now button.

   

Change the date and time using PowerShell

PowerShell is an all-powerful alternative to the classic Windows terminal. However, you can also use it for simple tasks, like changing the date and time.

1. Go to Windows Search, and search for “powershell”. Run the app as an administrator.

   

2. Use the command

   Set-Date -Date "DATE TIME"

   to adjust the time as you wish. Note that you must enclose the date and time in quotation marks. As an example, the precise syntax for setting the date to 05-05-2022 and the time to 02:15 would be:

   Set-Date -Date "05/05/2022 02:15"

   

   If the command is correct, PowerShell will report the new date and time values before prompting you for further input.

   

Changing the date and time using Command Prompt

Like PowerShell, you can also use the Command Prompt to change the time. However, the process is different. You have to use two separate commands.

1. Search for the Command Prompt (or “cmd” for short) using Windows Search. Make sure you run it as an administrator.

   

2. Use the pretty straightforward command

   date 05/05/2022

   to, as you probably guessed, change the date to 05/05/2022. Feel free to swap the one we used for any date you wish.

   

3. Changing the time is almost the same process. Use the command time followed by the value you wish. For example, typing

   time 02:15

   will, as the command states, set the time to 02:15.

   

Time matters!

There are many ways to change the time on Windows 11, and they’re all relatively straightforward. Your choice depends on whether you prefer working with the general user interface or using commands to set new values manually.