Server 2008 Hyper V and NTP Time Server / Time Issues

By default Server 2008 does not use a NTP Time Server to sync its clock but relies only on the internal clock. ¬¨‚ĆIf this server also houses VM images through Hyper V these images will by default pull time info from the host. ¬¨‚ĆTo me I have always like to have clocks synced to a NTP time server which just gives peace of mind that all machines, VM’s, etc will have the correct time. ¬¨‚ĆThis prevents issues with clients accessing resources or logging in being denied due to Kerberos or other time sensitive security measures.

Personally I have find this strange that there is not a simple GUI button to check to to enable this, the fix though is easy enough.  My instructions below will cause Server 2008 to use the time.windows.com NTP server for time syncing.

To Set Server 2008 to use a NTP Time Server in 3 easy steps.

1.  Edit the Registry (regedit)

2.  Now change these three registry keys

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config]
“AnnounceFlags”=dword:00000005 ¬¨‚Ć ¬¨‚Ć

(You are changing this from a 10 to a 5 )

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters]
“Type”=”NTP“

 (Again change the contents of this key to simply NTP)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer]
“Enabled”=dword:00000001

(This is by default a 0 you are changing to a 1).

3.  Last step open a command prompt with administrative access.

Net stop w32time
Net start w32time

 

I did find a windows support on this topic but it is a bit lengthly http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816042