4

I have several Win7 64bit configurations - local dev machine, remote server, VPS. I'm running time sensitive tasks on all of them, therefore I need Windows Time service to:

  • Sync
  • Sync well (<30ms)
  • Sync frequently (once per minute)

Currently it doesn't do any of those...
I was able to do this on a Windows Server 2008 VPS using these registry tweaks, however it doesn't seem to work for Win7.

So... How do I sync time on Win7? well? frequently?

Community
  • 1
Jonathan
  • 209
  • 3
  • 11
  • did you have any luck with [@JdeBP's](http://superuser.com/questions/308163/ntp-sync-doesnt/308178#308178) advice? I'd say he was spot on. – Michael Lowman Jul 26 '11 at 21:12
  • If time sync is very important to you and you have several machines then I strongly suggestion you setup one of your boxes to be a local NTP server. Do not have every computer hitting the outside world. – Zoredache Jul 26 '11 at 21:28
  • From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol#Microsoft_Windows -- However, the Windows Time Service cannot maintain the system time more accurately than about a 1-2 second range. – Zoredache Jul 26 '11 at 21:33
  • @Michael - I haven't had much luck with JdeBP's advice. I think his links are Windows Server 2008 related and I don't know if they are applicable for Win7 – Jonathan Jul 26 '11 at 21:39
  • @Zoredache - the machines are in different places in the world. On Win Server 2008 I was able to maintain 30ms accuracy most of the time with the registry tweaks I linked to. – Jonathan Jul 26 '11 at 21:43
  • An NTP server is probably the way to go, but for interest sake, to modify the update interval on Windows 7: Set `SpecialPollInterval`, under `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient` to a time in seconds. – cyberx86 Jul 27 '11 at 01:47

1 Answers1

3

If the default Windows capabilities/programmability does not meet your requirement, then you might consider any one of the many numerous time synchronization utilities available. There is a good chance that there are multiple utilities which can meet your requirements.

user48838
  • 7,431
  • 2
  • 18
  • 14
  • 1
    I agree here. Particularly if you need 30ms or better accuracy. The Built in Windows sync just isn't that great. There are full NTP daemons that will run under windows. http://www.meinberg.de/english/sw/ntp.htm – Zoredache Jul 26 '11 at 21:35
  • @Zoredache - THAT link was a lifesaver. Why not write it as an answer? Who knows, I might accept it ;) – Jonathan Jul 26 '11 at 22:03