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O G

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Time is off on computers on the domain

I recently took over a client and not too familiar with their setup. They have Server 2016 DC, AD, DHCP, DNS, File and Print. Time on all of the computers in the domain is off. How can i sync everyone's computers with correct network time?
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Dariusz Tyka
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You need to check if domain controller is syncing its time with external time source. If not you need to configure that. Then all computers in domain will get proper time from DC. You can read more on this topic here:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/nepapfe/2013/03/01/its-simple-time-configuration-in-active-directory/
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Dr. Klahn

You pays your money and you takes your choice when it comes to time synchronization across a domain.

CASE A:  If you use a local time server and require all systems to set from that server, then the times will be synchronized but there's no guarantee it will be correct.  This appears to be what you're encountering.  The time must be correct on the time server; if not, everybody has the wrong time and that can be catastrophic in environments where timestamps matter.  And if the time server fails, nobody knows what time it is and the individual system clocks start to drift.

CASE B:  If you use a public time server net such as 0.us.pool.ntp.org, or a high-reliability Stratum 2 server the times on each system will be close to correct but not exactly synchronized.  On the other hand, the network time servers are always available (unless you lose internet connectivity) and are always very close to correct.
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ASKER

Thank Dariusz and Dr. Klahn for your answers. How can i identify what NTP setup this environment has?
Issue on domain controller below commands and paste results:
w32tm /query /suorce
w32tm /query /peers
As per https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/nepapfe/2013/03/01/its-simple-time-configuration-in-active-directory/

Find PDC emulator: on a Root Domain DC run
netdom query fsmo

Open in new window

   
Run the following command on the PDC emulator:
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:timeserver /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update

Open in new window

 (where timeserver is a –space delimited– list of your time source servers)
Once done, restart W32Time service.
   
Run the following command on all other DCs (that are not PDC):
    w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update

Open in new window

Once done, restart W32Time service.

NOTE: all w32tm commands are to be executed from an elevated command prompt by a Domain Admin of the relevant domain.
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Michelangelo
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ASKER

Thank you everyone!