How can I change the date and time on Ubuntu?

Question

When I go to change the date and time it doesn't work. I try to unlock but it just won't unlock. If there is any way to make it work please help.

I know it isn't very descriptive but I really would appreciate some answers.

`timedatectl set-ntp yes` – Mohan Radhakrishnan May 14 '20 at 08:17 — Mohan Radhakrishnan, May 14 '20 at 08:17

score 96 · Answer 1 · edited May 29 '14 at 08:03

96

From man date

-s, --set=STRING
          set time described by STRING

To change date, use the command in terminal,

sudo date --set=STRING

For example, to change date to 25 Sep 2013 15:00, the command would be,

sudo date --set "25 Sep 2013 15:00:00"

edited May 29 '14 at 08:03

sourav c.

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answered Sep 25 '13 at 05:59

kern

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Does it also work if system is rebooted or it has to be apply every time after reboot? – Apr 30 '14 at 03:20
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Yes, it works after system reboot; you wouldn't have to apply it every time. – kern May 01 '14 at 05:35
After reboot system is automatically picking current date. – Naveen Mar 31 '16 at 05:56
If the date appears to be something way wrong after a reboot or power cycle, it usually means the battery on the motherboard is bad. – Andi Jay May 05 '17 at 15:36
5

This appears to no longer work. Using Ubuntu 16.04 – Teekin May 30 '17 at 15:06
@Teekin you should probably mention the error you receive. Works fine on 17.10 – Chris Stryczynski Aug 03 '18 at 11:20
@ChrisStryczynski, sorry, I should have mentioned, but there was no error message. – Teekin Aug 19 '18 at 14:40
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On 16.04 LTS, in Time & Date (System Settings), set the time **manually**. If not, the command is executed, but the date and the time are not changed. – Rudy Vissers Aug 21 '18 at 13:06
It worked for 18.04 LTS – Kadir Y. Oct 31 '19 at 12:51
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not working. set date by `sudo date --set=STRING` result printed that date has changed but actually date is not changed. – Igor Nov 19 '21 at 18:06

Nick Volynkin · Answer 2 · 2015-10-23T08:47:27.587

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Try this:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

This both lets you configure your timezone (you may just pick the same), and automagically synchronizes your time.

If there's no tzdata package, install it:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tzdata

edited Oct 23 '15 at 08:47

answered Oct 23 '15 at 08:35

Nick Volynkin

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This solve my Ubuntu server timezone setting, thank you. – Manee Osman Dec 20 '16 at 06:21

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 25 '13 at 05:50

16

In 12.04 I don't have to Unlock anything. Just click on the clock on the top bar, and choose Time & Date Settings, once the Time & Date window opens, choose Manually, so you can change the time and date manually; otherwise choose your time zone from the map, and choose Automatic.

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answered Sep 25 '13 at 05:50

Mitch

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I am not able to change my system's time this way. I can change the time from the settings but it is not reflecting on my top bar. – roopunk Jun 26 '14 at 10:50
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It takes a while (+30 secs), but the top bar does update after sometime. (Ubuntu 14.04) – shxfee Oct 25 '14 at 19:37
You'll have to change the focus of the Date spinner control to have the date changed immediately. Very odd :) (Ubuntu 14.10) – Aram Paronikyan Mar 02 '15 at 14:03
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None of these solutions work for me, am on 14.04 as well. – Tass May 27 '15 at 17:25
sometimes to reflect the settings changes you need to kill unity panel service and restart it. Click clock on the top bar, and choose Time & Date Settings once the Time & Date window opens choose Manually so you can change the time and date manually; otherwise choose your time zone from the map, and choose Automatically. Now to reflect changes instantly open terminal and type killall unity-panel-service – Gaurav Shukla Aug 20 '15 at 22:58

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 20 '21 at 19:36

8

If you want to change the time zone only, refer to this:

How to change timezone on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux

Therefore

Check Current Timezone Settings: $ timedatectl
Show all Available Timezones: $ timedatectl list-timezones
Change Timezone: $ sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Berlin.

edited Sep 20 '21 at 19:36

Manuel Jordan

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answered Jan 23 '19 at 08:04

wang.xueqiang

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score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 09 '16 at 00:50

8

See this blog post for setting the date with a machine-friendly format string:

sudo date 120622432007.55

for December 6, 2007, 22:43:55,

and see this answer for setting the date with a human-friendly string:

sudo date --set "15 MAY 2011 1:40 PM"

answered Feb 09 '16 at 00:50

WillC

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Thank you :) That is what I was looking for. – Soren May 02 '21 at 09:15

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 05 '22 at 07:34

To change the date and time to a fixed value on an Ubuntu version using timesyncd, do the following.

Stop timesyncd:

sudo systemctl stop systemd-timesyncd

Set the date and/or time manually:

sudo timedatectl set-time 'YYYY-MM-DD'

Or:

sudo timedatectl set-time 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'

When you want to revert to the current time and date, run:

sudo systemctl start systemd-timesyncd

score -1 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 20 '14 at 00:52

-1

I had similar issue on my install and the above command gave this error:

date: the argument '19 Sep 2014 20:11:00' lacks a leading '+';
when using an option to specify date(s), any non-option
argument must be a format string beginning with '+'
Try 'date --help'

Help shows -

Usage: date [option]...  [+FORMAT] - (etc)

Added the required plus as indicated to render +19 Sep 2014 20:11:00 which worked.

edited Sep 20 '14 at 00:52

muru

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answered Sep 20 '14 at 00:42

shtlcdr

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This is for _displaying_ the date, not _setting_ it. – Adam Katz Oct 24 '18 at 00:43

How can I change the date and time on Ubuntu?

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