bios clock off and don't know how to changeit.

[computertechguy]

I am working with a dell server and when windows server 2022 reboots the time is off by hours, its actually a day plus hours ahead. The server is obviously reading the cmos clock but how do I change it. I am in idrac and set the time zone plus the ntp servers but that isn't helping the cmos time.

 

[Sky-Knight]

the CMOS time is set by Windows though... at least by default. You've got something else going on here, and you change that clock only by booting the server into the BIOS and setting it otherwise.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Is it a bare metal install, or a Hyper-V host running some guests?

I always set the domain controllers time service to the NTP US pool time servers. Done in command line, w32time commands.
If you query the DCs w32time service..what's it set to?
And...things can be a bit different when it comes to the Hyper-V host if you have one....
And the DC should command the time for all client workstations.

 

[computertechguy]

Is it a bare metal install, or a Hyper-V host running some guests?

I always set the domain controllers time service to the NTP US pool time servers. Done in command line, w32time commands.
If you query the DCs w32time service..what's it set to?
And...things can be a bit different when it comes to the Hyper-V host if you have one....
And the DC should command the time for all client workstations.

It's a VM ware install, and the query says cmos time local. Yes the DC is the time clock that is why I knew we had a timeissue when the client called and said there clocks were off by a day and somehours.

 

[computertechguy]

the CMOS time is set by Windows though... at least by default. You've got something else going on here, and you change that clock only by booting the server into the BIOS and setting it otherwise.

I could not find the clock setting on the dell server bios.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

It's a VM ware install, and the query says cmos time local. Yes the DC is the time clock that is why I knew we had a timeissue when the client called and said there clocks were off by a day and somehours.

Yeah, blech...
For decades I've always set the DC to NTP's North American Pool

pool.ntp.org: How do I setup NTP to use the pool?

www.ntppool.org

Keep that server (and...thus..the rest of the network)...accurate down to the smallest nanosecond.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Beware virtual deployments, you have to manually exempt virtual machines from the time sync that hypervisors impose by default.

You should have all servers syncing with a local time master, and having a DC be the local time master is appropriate, and indeed default behavior for Windows machines.

But what you don't want is that DC pulling time while the host is resetting it! You want the DC pulling time, while the host pulls its time from the DC!

@computertechguy, the fact the actual OS on the hardware is VM Ware was extremely relevant and should have been in your OP! Every OS has the means to control the hardware clock, and ESXi is no exception: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1003736

Fix your host so it can set time correctly, then if Active Directory is in play, exempt all of your Windows VMs at least from the hypervisor's time sync, and configure your DCs to get time from ntp.org as YeOldStonecat suggests.

Failure to do all of this correctly will result in ugly, annoying, and difficult to troubleshoot network issues. Networks run off the real time clock! This cannot be ignored, and must be corrected.

 

[Markverhyden]

Providing the server model, BIOS version, and version of hypervisor helps a lot. Before shutting down put the hypervisor in maintenance mode. Start by replacing the 2032 in the server. Drifting times is indicative of the battery being at a very low voltage. Next set the BIOS date and time. To do this using IDRAC you have to use a virtual console to connect to the local console during POST. Link below looks like what I've seen before.

Dell Technologies VxRail: How to reset the BIOS settings to default and set system time and date. | Dell US