How to Change Time Zone on Linux

This wikiHow teaches you how to change the time zone on a Linux computer. You can change the time zone on any Linux distribution using the command line or the command line menu depending on the Linux version. If you’re using Mint, Ubuntu, or another distribution with a simple user interface and settings menu, you can also change the time zone right here.

Table of Contents

By command line

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Open Terminal. Select Terminal from the list of programs on Linux or press Ctrl + Alt + T .

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Check the current time zone. Type date into Terminal and then press ↵ Enter . Terminal will display the date in the format Thứ Tháng Ngày Giờ Múi giờ Năm (English abbreviation).

For example, in the line Wed Mar 7 07:38:23 EDT 2017 “EDT” stands for the current time zone (Eastern Daylight Time: daylight saving time in the US).

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Check available time zones. Type cd /usr/share/zoneinfo and press ↵ Enter , then type tzselect and press ↵ Enter to bring up a list of locations.

The /usr/share/zoneinfo directory may vary depending on the Linux version.

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Select a continent or ocean. Type the number that represents the option related to your general location, then press ↵ Enter .

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Select country. Type the number that represents the option in the list on the screen, and then press ↵ Enter .

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Select time zone. Type the number representing the time zone in the zone you want to select, and then press ↵ Enter .

If your city is not on the list, select another city in the same time zone as you.

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Confirm local time. On the next command line, confirm the local time is correct by pressing the 1 key then ↵ Enter .

If the time is not correct, type 2 then press ↵ Enter , then select the new continent and repeat the process.

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Confirm that the time zone is set. Execute the date command again and check if this time zone corresponds to the time you just changed. If you see the new time appear, you have successfully changed the time zone on your computer.

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Set up the clock to be synchronized with an internet time server if you prefer. Most modern distributions come pre-installed with the Network Time Protocp (NTP) protocol. If your Linux distro doesn’t have it then install this NTP server package. Use the following commands to install depending on your Linux distribution:

Ubuntu/Mint/Debian : sudo apt install ntpdate
CentOS : sudo yum install ntpdate
sudo /sbin/chkconfig ntpd on
Fedora/RedHat : sudo yum install ntpdate
sudo chkconfig ntpd on
Enter ntpdate server link && hwclock –w after the installation command, remember to replace the server link with the link to the website.

By time zone selection menu

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Open Terminal. Select Terminal from the list of programs on Linux or press Ctrl + Alt + T .

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Enter the command to open the time zone menu. Depending on the Linux distribution, this command will be different:

Ubuntu and Mint – sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata followed by the password admin (admin)/user (user).
Redhat – redhat-config-date
CentOS and Fedora – system-config-date
‘ FreeBSD and Slackware – tzselect

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Select a geographic area. Use the arrow keys to select the geographic area to which the country belongs and then press ↵ Enter .

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Select a city/area. Select the city or region that corresponds to your time zone and then press ↵ Enter . The time zone will be changed on the system. ^{[1] X Research Source}

By graphical user interface on Ubuntu

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Click the “system menu” icon

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. The option has a downward-facing triangle in the upper-right corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Click the wrench and screwdriver “settings” icon in the lower-left corner of the drop-down menu. The Ubuntu Contrp Center Control Center will open.

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Scroll down and click Details . Options are at the bottom of the left sidebar of the window.

You need to make sure that the mouse pointer is on the left sidebar when scrolling.

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Click Date & Time . This tab is on the left side of the window.

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Turn off Automatic Time Zone. Click the blue “Automatic Time Zone” switch in the middle of the page to turn it off.

If the “Automatic Time Zone” switch is greyed out, skip this step.

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Click Time Zone near the bottom of the window. The Time Zone menu will open.

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Select time zone. Click on your approximate location on the world map to select. The time will change to match the time zone of the region you select.

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Close the window to save the settings. The appropriate time zone will be updated.

Using the Mint . graphical user interface

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Open Menu. Click Menu in the lower left corner of the screen.

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Click the gray two gear-shaped system settings icon. Options are on the left side of the Menu window.

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Click Date & Time in the “Preferences” group of options.

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Click Unlock on the right side of the window.

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Enter the user password when prompted. Enter the password that you use to log in to the computer.

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Click Authenticate at the bottom of the pop-up dialog. The Date & Time menu will be unlocked.

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Select time zone. Click the vertical bar on the map to select the time zone. The clock on the right side of the page will immediately change to reflect the time of the selected time zone.

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Click Lock on the right side of the window to save your time zone customizations. The Date & Time menu will be locked.

Advice

On RedHat Linux, Slackware, Gentoo, SuSE, Debian, Ubuntu and some other “regular” versions, the command to display and change the time is “date” not “clock”.
On mobile phones and small devices running the Linux operating system, time zones are stored differently.

Warning

Some applications (like PHP) have their own time zone settings that are different from the system time zone.
On some systems there is a utility to set the correct time zone and change it to suit the system configuration. For example, on Debian there is a “tzsetup” or “tzconfig” utility.

Steps