How to fix internet time sync error on Windows 10

 

Besides displaying the date and time, your Windows 10 PC's date and time app also helps many other services to work perfectly and hence the time and date should be set correctly. While Windows' automatic time synchronization feature allows it to manage date and time settings based on time zone, sometimes syncing with time.windows.com can fail and that's what happens when you encounter an error " An error has occurred while Windows synced to time.windows.com ". This error occurs when the Windows time service is not working properly. This is a fairly common error and the good news is it can be fixed. Let's see how.

Method 1: Change Windows Time Service to Automatic

Step 1: Right-click the Start menu and choose Run to open the Run Command window .

Step 2: In the search box , type services.msc and press Enter to open the Services window.

Step 3: In the Service Manager window, go to the right side of the pane and look for Windows Time Service in the Names column.

Double-click to open the Properties window .

Step 4: In the Properties window , go to the Startup type box under the General tab .

Set the field to Automatic .

Step 5: Now go to the Service Status section and check if it is running.

If not, press the Start button.

Press Apply and then OK to save the changes and return to the Service window .

Exit the Services window and check if the error is gone.

Method 2: Download and run nist Internet Time Service

1. Just go to this link from nist.gov to download NISTIME-32bit.exe

2. Press CTRL+F on the webpage and type NISTIME-32bit.exe to find it.

3. Once you find the download link for NIST-32bit.exe, just download it.

Right-click the downloaded file and select Run as administrator.

Run it directly on your PC as it is a portable file and no installation is required

Method 3: Register the Win32time components

Step 1: Press Win+X hotkey and select Run . This will open the Run Command window .

Step 2: In the search box , type cmd and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter key combination to launch the command prompt with administrator privileges.

Step 3: Type the following commands one by one in the Command Prompt ( admin ) window and press Enter . strong> after each:

net stop w32time
w32tm/unregister
w32tm/register

Once complete, close Command Prompt and restart your PC. The error should no longer occur.

Method 4: Edit Registry Editor

Step 1: Right- click the Start menu and click Run on the menu .

Step 2: In the Run Command window that opens, type regedit and press OK to get the . to open Registry Editor window.

Step 3: In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\TapiSrv

Now go to the right side of the window and double click on ImagePath to open the Edit String dialog box .

Step 4: In the Edit String dialog box, copy and paste the following path into the Value data box :

%SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe-k NetworkService

Press OK to save changes and exit.

*Note- Before making any changes to . In Registry Editor, make sure to back up the registry data so that if you lose data during the process, it can be restored.

Close the registry editor, restart your PC and the internet time sync error should no longer appear.

Method 5: Update Internet Time Settings

Step 1: Press Win+R key combination on your keyboard to start Run command .

Step 2: Type control panel in the search box and press OK to open the Control Panel  window .

Step 3: In the Control Panel window, go to the Show field and set it to Large icons.

Select the date and time from the list.

Step 4: In the Date and Time window , select the Internet Time tab and press the Change Settings button.

Step 5: Internet Time Settings window will open.

Here, check the box next to Synchronize with an Internet time server .

Select time.nist.gov from the drop-down menu and click the Update Now button next to it .

Press OK to save changes and exit.

Now go back and check if the error is resolved.

Method 6: Adding more time servers using Registry Editor

Step 1: Press Win+X keys simultaneously on your keyboard and select Run from the menu.

Step 2: In the Run Command window , type regedit and press Enter .

Step 3: This will open the Registry Editor window .

Copy and paste the path below into the Registry Editor address bar and press Enter :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers

Now go to the right side of the window and right click on an empty area. Select New and then select String Value .

Step 4: Rename the new String Value based on the time servers already in place.

For example, here we renamed the new String Value to 3 since it already has 1 and 2 . If you have more, rename them accordingly.

Step 5: Now right click on the new string value and select Modify .

Step 6: In the Edit String Value window that opens, go to the Value Data field and add the following text:

tick.usno.navy.mi

Press OK to save changes and exit.

*Note- Before proceeding with editing Registry Editor , make a backup copy of registry settings in order to restore in case of data loss.

Close the registry editor and restart your PC. The internet time sync error should now be resolved.

Method 7: Enable the time sync feature

Step 1: Navigate to the Start icon on the bottom left of your PC screen and click on it. Choose Run to open the Run Command window .

Step 2: Type taskschd.msc in the search box and press Enter to bring up Task Scheduler .

Step 3: In the Task Scheduler window , on the far left pane under Task Scheduler (Local) , expand Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows folder .

Step 4: Now select Time Sync  from the folder list.

Step 5: Now go to the middle pane of the window and under the Name column, right-click on SynchronizeTime and select Enable .

Now close Task Scheduler and restart your PC for the changes to take effect. This should fix the internet time sync issue on your Windows 10 PC.

Method 8: Add RealTimeIsUniversal DWORD in Registry Editor

Step 1: Press Win+R keys together to open Run Command .

Step 2: In the Run Command window , type cmd and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter keys on your keyboard to open Command Prompt with administrator privileges.

Step 3: In the Command Prompt ( admin ) window, run the following commands one by one and press Enter after each command:

ntpdate pool.ntp.org
hwclock –systohc –utc

Step 4: Now exit Command Prompt and right click on Start menu and click on Run .

Step 5: In the Run Command window that opens, type regedit and press OK .

This will open the Registry Editor window .

Step 6: In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

Now navigate to the right side of the window and right click on an empty space. Select New , and then select DWORD (32-bit) Value .

Step 7: Rename this new DWORD value to RealTimeIsUniversal and double click on it.

Step 8: In the DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box , set the Value Data field to 1 .

Press OK to save changes and exit.

*Note- Before editing Registry Editor , make sure you back up the registry data. In this way, you can recover lost data during the process.

Exit the registry editor window, restart your PC and the error should go away.

Method 3: Run SFC scannow command

Step 1: Press Win+R keys simultaneously on your keyboard to launch Run Command box .

Step 2: In the search box , type cmd and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter keys together to open Command Prompt in elevated mode.

Step 3: In the Command Prompt ( admin ) window, run the following command and press Enter :

sfc/scannow

Windows scans the system files and this process takes a while. So wait for a while and exit Command Prompt once it's over. Restart your PC and the internet time sync error should now be resolved.

Method 9: Update outdated BIOS

Before proceeding with the method, check the BIOS version as shown in this article.

Step 1: Now to check the motherboard model, right click on Start and select Run to run the command. to start .

Step 2: Type msinfo32 in the search box and press Enter to open the System Information window .

Step 3: In the System Information window, go to the right side of the panel and check the System Model ( Motherboard Model ).

Step 3: Now open your browser and visit the motherboard company's website to download and extract the latest BIOS version.

Now go to BIOS (follow the readme.txt file for instructions) or use a Windows app to update the BIOS .

Alternatively, you can create a bootable DOS USB drive for the BIOS update.

Now restart your PC and the error should go away.

Alternatively, you can temporarily change the time zone via the Settings appChange it and see if the internet time sync issue is resolved. If that doesn't work, you can check if there's a pending Windows update to download and install. If it is, download and install the update and then restart your PC to check if the timing issue on your Windows 10 PC is resolved. Sometimes the problem can occur due to your computer's battery. If the BIOS is corrupted, there may be problems with the time and date settings. To check if your battery is a problem, enter the BIOS (see this article on entering the BIOS). ). If there is a problem with the battery, you need to replace it. However, if this method also fails, check whether the CMOS battery needs to be replaced. Be sure to seek help from a technician when replacing the CMOS battery.