Home / ubuntu / Questions / 1198863
In Process
Akshar Patel
Asked: 2019-12-28 00:34:40 +0800 CST

How to enable automatic date and time on Ubuntu 19.10?

  • 772

I am trying to turn on Automatic Date & Time but it turns off immediately on its own.

enter image description here This seems to happen only after installing the latest updates.

How do I enable Automatic Date & Time?

ntp gnome-control-center 19.10

1 Answers

  1. Short answer:

    $ sudo apt remove ntp

    And try to enable automatic Time & Date again.

    Long answer:

    If you try to start the "systemd-timesyncd" service manually with:

    systemctl start systemd-timesyncd.service

    and check the status with:

    systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service

    you can see that it says:

    Condition: start condition failed at <some time>; 1s ago
       └─ ConditionFileIsExecutable=!/usr/sbin/ntpd was not met

    So "ntpd" has to be unavailable in order for this to work. If you check the file "/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service.d/disable-with-time-daemon.conf" you can see some more conditions that prevent the start:

     ConditionFileIsExecutable=!/usr/sbin/ntpd
 ConditionFileIsExecutable=!/usr/sbin/openntpd
 ConditionFileIsExecutable=!/usr/sbin/chronyd
 ConditionFileIsExecutable=!/usr/sbin/VBoxService

    So depending on your installation it will also stop working if "ntp", "openntpd", "chrony" and/or VirtualBox Services are installed.

    • 5