Operation and Maintenance
Linux Operation and Maintenance
How to Set System Time and Date in Linux? (timedatectl examples)
How to Set System Time and Date in Linux? (timedatectl examples)
timedatectl is the modern, unified tool for managing time on systemd systems. It handles timezone, NTP sync, hardware clock, and manual time settings—use timedatectl status, set-timezone, set-time (after disabling NTP), and set-ntp.
Use timedatectl — it’s the modern, reliable way to manage system time and date on systemd-based Linux distributions. It handles hardware clock, timezone, NTP synchronization, and boot-time settings in one unified tool. No need for separate date, hwclock, or manual config edits unless you're on a very old or non-systemd system.
Check current time, timezone, and sync status
Run this to see everything at once:
timedatectl status
You’ll get output showing local/system time, universal time (UTC), timezone, whether NTP is enabled and active, and if the hardware clock is set to UTC or local time. Look for System clock synchronized: yes and NTP service: active — that means your system is keeping accurate time automatically.
Set timezone interactively or by name
To list available timezones:
timedatectl list-timezones
Then set one (e.g., for New York):
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York
You can also use tab completion after typing sudo timedatectl set-timezone Am to browse matching zones. Avoid abbreviations like “EST” — always use the full IANA zone name.
Manually set date and time (only when needed)
Disable NTP first — otherwise it will overwrite your changes:
sudo timedatectl set-ntp false- Then set date and time like:
sudo timedatectl set-time "2024-05-20 14:30:00" - Or just time:
sudo timedatectl set-time "14:30:00" - Or just date:
sudo timedatectl set-time "2024-05-20"
After manual changes, re-enable NTP with sudo timedatectl set-ntp true — recommended unless you have a strict offline or air-gapped setup.
Enable or disable automatic time sync via NTP
Most systems should keep NTP on:
- Turn it on:
sudo timedatectl set-ntp true - Turn it off:
sudo timedatectl set-ntp false
This controls systemd-timesyncd by default. If you’re using ntpd or chronyd, timedatectl won’t interfere — but avoid running multiple time daemons simultaneously.
Basically just these four areas — status, timezone, manual time, and NTP — cover nearly all real-world needs. Not complex, but easy to overlook small details like disabling NTP before setting time manually.
The above is the detailed content of How to Set System Time and Date in Linux? (timedatectl examples). For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!
Hot AI Tools
Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free
AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.
Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos
ArtGPT
AI image generator for creative art from text prompts.
Stock Market GPT
AI powered investment research for smarter decisions
Hot Article
Popular tool
Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor
SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use
Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment
Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools
SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)
Hot Topics
20524
7
13634
4
How to setup file sharing using Samba on Linux? (SMB Protocol)
Mar 13, 2026 am 12:33 AM
The main reason why Windows cannot see the Samba share is that the firewall blocks UDP137–139/TCP445 or NetBIOS name resolution fails; it is necessary to confirm that the workgroup is consistent, the interfaces are configured correctly, the file permissions match forceuser/forcegroup, and set doscharset=UTF-8 to solve Chinese garbled characters.
How to extend a Logical Volume (LVM) in Linux without downtime?
Mar 13, 2026 am 12:53 AM
Logical volumes and file systems can be expanded online. You need to expand the LV first and then the file system. It is recommended to use lvextend-r for automatic synchronization adjustment, but you must ensure that the LVM and file system tool versions are compatible.
How to check open ports and listening services in Linux? (Netstat & SS)
Mar 10, 2026 am 01:08 AM
Netstat displays fewer LISTEN ports than ss because it does not display process information by default that non-root users do not have access to; ss can read all listening sockets by default without process names, and sudonetstat-tulpn is required to display them completely.
How to format disk partitions using the command line in Linux?
Mar 15, 2026 am 12:01 AM
When fdisk is stuck at the Command prompt, it is normally waiting for input. Enter q to exit safely; you must umount before mkfs, otherwise it may fail silently; partedmkpart does not support the specified file system type, and mkfs needs to be executed separately.
How to set up SSH key authentication on Linux? (Passwordless Login)
Mar 11, 2026 am 12:46 AM
It is recommended to use ssh-keygen-ted25519 to generate a key pair, because it is faster, more secure, and has a shorter key than the default RSA; it is necessary to strictly set the ~/.ssh directory permissions to 700 and authorized_keys to 600, and use ssh-v to confirm whether the client is Offering public key and whether the server rejects it.
How to configure a static IP address on Linux? (Netplan & NetworkManager)
Mar 14, 2026 am 12:02 AM
Netplan reports "InvalidYAML" when configuring a static IP due to indentation errors, missing spaces after colons, or mixed tabs; gateway4 has been deprecated and routes to:default must be used instead; NetworkManager needs to be modified before down/up takes effect; the renderer field is used to determine the backend during coexistence; incorrect DNS configuration will cause ping to succeed but curl to fail.
How to enable and configure remote desktop access on Linux? (VNC & XRDP)
Mar 16, 2026 am 12:06 AM
The applicable scenarios of VNC and XRDP are different: VNC is suitable for complete graphics, multi-user, and cross-platform. Tigervnc-server is recommended and xstartup and port are correctly configured;
How to recover a lost root password in Linux? (Grub Rescue)
Mar 18, 2026 am 12:25 AM
There is no response when pressing e because GRUB has enabled superusers or password_pbkdf2 authentication, and you need to execute setsuperusers="" and unsetpassword on the command line to bypass it; when changing init=/bin/bash, you must add rw at the same time, otherwise the root file system will be read-only and cause failure; when passwd reports an error, you need to check the mounting status and SELinux, and run sync before exec to ensure that the password is written to the disk.
