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Asked: 2012-11-15 05:35:05 +0800 CST

Adjusting Windows time drift without internet on Windows Server 2003

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I have Windows Server 2003 on a local LAN that has no internet connection, and need somewhat accurate timing.

Unfortunately currently Windows loses about 1-2 minutes every week, which is why I have to manually log in every weekend and adjust the time to the correct time.

Is there a way I can manually adjust time drift to correct for this behaviour? There is a clear, constant drift - the clock is e.g. never ahead, and always delayed by roughly the same amount.

windows-server-2003

2 Answers

  1. GPS is the typical solution for machines that need time sync but have no external network connectivity. There are various software applications, both free and commercial, that can use a GPS receiver to sync the system time (search for "gps windows time sync" and you'll find a number of them). If you'd prefer an embedded device you can also find a number of devices that package up the entire GPS receiver into an Ethernet-attachable NTP server.

    I don't have personal experience with either solution so I'm not going to make any specific recommendations. There are quite a number of offerings in both spaces out there, though.

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  2. Best Answer

    The following PowerShell one-liner will do it:

    Set-Date (Get-Date).AddMinutes(2)

    So set a scheduled task to run a powershell script with that command. You might need to set the powershell execution policy to run PowerShell scripts on your machine.

    Naturally, this assumes your clock drift is as accurate as you claim

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