How can I configure the time service in Windows 2000?

A. [Editor’s Note: Matthew Ellis submitted the registry entries that I list in the table in this FAQ.]

Windows 2000 Kerberos authentication protocol relies heavily on domain controllers (DCs) having a common time. Therefore, Win2K ships with Windows Time Service (W32Time), which takes a hierarchical approach to assigning time, as the following bulleted items show:

The PDC FSMO becomes the authoritative time source for the enterprise, and you should, therefore, configure the PDC FSMO to gather the time from an external source. Until you complete this task, Event Log events will state that W32Time isn’t configured.

Click here to view image

To configure Win2K to use an external time server, use the command:

C:> net time /setsntp:192.4.41.40

You can use several external time servers that are based at the US Naval Observatory, including the following examples:

However, don’t talk directly to the Navy Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers unless the domain administrator needs to operate a stratum-2 server (and will open it to a large community of users). Domain administrators shouldn’t hit directly on tick.usno.navy.mil, tock.usno.navy.mil, or ntp2.usno.navy.mil. Instead, they should use their ISP’s NTP server (they should have one), unless they have unusual requirements for precision.

Please read http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/ntpfaq/NTP-s-config.htm#Q-CLIENT-ETIQUETTEbefore you use the NTP service in Win2K.

When you perform the /setsntp command, it updates registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameterstpserver. Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) uses UDP port 123, so you need to ensure that proxy servers or firewalls don’t block this port.

For more information, see ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/ResKit/y2kfix/x86/w32time/w32time.doc to see the w32time.doc file. Although the developers wrote this file for Windows NT 4.0’s w32time program, not for Win2K’s W32Time, the file is still worth reading. You should also read the Microsoft article “Basic Operation of the Windows Time Service” (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q224/7/99.ASP).

I’ve listed some of the other registry parameters for W32Time below.