How to Set the Time on Your PC to a NIST Time Server

How to use one of the NIST Servers maintained by the US Timing Server Foundation (an affiliate of Certichron)

The following example is based on a PC running VISTA, however, the process is similar in XP.

Start by moving your cursor to the lower right hand portion of your screen (the Taskbar). Click once on the time. You will then see the following window:

Click on "Change date and time settings". You will then see:

You should see an "Internet Time" tab at the top of the window. If the tab is missing, you are likely on a network and the administrator has set the page to not access the Internet for the time. Instead, the administrator has programmed your PC to automatically synchronize with a local time server on your network. If there is no "Internet Time" tab you will not be able to set your PC to use an external time server. The rest of this page applies only if the Internet Time tab is visible.

Once you have clicked on the Internet Time tab and you will see the following window:

This page will tell you the name of the server on the Internet that you currently use to synchronize your time (in this example you can see time.windows.com server, the default for Windows). The window will also tell you when your PC is programmed to next synchronize the time. Typically, PC's are set by default to synchronize on a weekly basis. Next click on the "Change settings..." button:

Make sure the "Synchronize with an Internet time server" box is checked. The page will also tell you when the last time your PC synchronized on the Internet. If it is more than a week, you may be having problems connecting with the assigned server.

If you click on the down arrow, you will see the other servers that you can select. If you click on another server on the list, Windows will use that server for subsequent synchronizations.

You can force Windows to synchronize the time by clicking on the "Update Now" button. It's a good idea to click on this button, if you make any changes, in order to test the connection.

The next step is to identify the closest NIST server maintained by the Foundation in order to minimize latency issues. The following is a list of the NIST-calibrated servers maintained by the Foundation. Select the closest one.

• Alexandria, Virginia - nist1-dc.ustiming.org
• New York City, New York - nist1-ny.ustiming.org
• Chicago, Illinois - nist1-chi.ustiming.org
• Los Angeles, California - nist1-la.ustiming.org
• San Jose, California - nist1-sj.ustiming.org

From the drop down list of servers on the window, click on the current server you want to replace. Then type in or copy the url of the Foundation server you want to use:

Once you have input the new server name in the box, click on the "Update Now" button to test the connection. After a few seconds, the screen should report that the PC successfully synchronized. If successful, your PC is not set up to synchronize with one of the Foundation servers on a weekly basis.

If the synchronization was not successful, check the name of the server you input. If the name is correct and you still can not synchronize, select another server on the list and try the "Update Now" button. If still unsuccessful, you may not be connected to the Internet or your firewall/network configuration may not permit NTP synchronization to an Internet server.