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Our servers are on a workgroup, we are a small company and do not use a domain controller. In Windows Server 2008 R2 we used TimeSync to help keep the most accurate time, not sure it was really necessary. We're reloading our servers with Windows Server 2012 R2 and wondering if the default Windows time sync is sufficient or if we should use TimeSync again? A small windows service.

Thank you

Neal
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    The `Windows Time Sync` that you're referring to is only applicable to domain joined clients in a Windows AD domain. If you're not running a Windows AD Domain then yes, you'll need to continue to use TimeSync. This isn't new to Windows Server 2012R2. – joeqwerty Jun 11 '14 at 23:32
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    Technically you could use the Windows Time Service but you'd have to manually configure it on all of your workstations and the server. Again, this isn't new to Windows Server 2012R2. – joeqwerty Jun 11 '14 at 23:34
  • By "TimeSync", are you referring to a third-party piece of software? Or do you mean the built-in Windows Time Service? – myron-semack Jun 12 '14 at 02:36
  • Yes, a third party windows service to keep the clock updated. So the Windows Time won't keep the clock updated automatically it seems. I'll go ahead and put TimeSync on Windows again. Thx – Neal Jun 12 '14 at 11:38
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    Every version of Windows since XP has a built in NTP client that will keep the clock synced over the Internet. If the Windows Time Service is not working for you, it is probably misconfigured. You should probably fix that rather than load an unnecessary third-party application. – myron-semack Jun 16 '14 at 19:09

1 Answers1

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Windows has a built-in function to do time synchronisation. And by default it gets the time from time.windows.com. There is no need to use a third-party application.

You can (but you should not need to) change the settings by right-clicking the clock in the taskbar > Adjust date/time > Internet Time.

Or from the command line:

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:time.windows.com /update

Daniel
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