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Possible Duplicate:
Stop Active Directory from updating computer time and date

I have a question similar to some others I've seen here. I have a development server running Windows Server 2003 SP2, in a Win2K3 Active Directory domain. I need to set the clock on this development server to an inaccurate time for testing. Every time I do, the system auto-corrects it back within a minute. I've looked through the documentation for the 'Net Time' command, and for W32tm.exe, but they seem to be more interested in syncing to accurate time than in helping me break that functionality for testing purposes. I'm hoping I can find a way to get the server to let me reset the machine's clock manually and let that stick without having to join the server to another domain or set up a dedicated (incorrect) NTP server.

Community
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Bill Swallow
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You can accomplish this by stopping the Windows Time (W32Time) service. Once stopped, it will no longer sync against the domain controller. However, by doing this you will break AD authentication. Kerberos tickets are time-sensitive. I'm sure you'll experience lots of pain if the clocks are more than 5 minutes out of sync and you're trying to authenticate using domain accounts.

Sean C.
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  • You'll also find that setting up a "dedicated incorrect NTP server" is not possible for a domain-joined computer. Once you join a domain, the option to choose your NTP server is gone. It automatically inputs a domain controller found via DNS queries. – Sean C. Mar 28 '11 at 20:00