Basics with Windows Power Shell by Prometheus MMS - HTML preview

1.1 Changing a Computer’s Date and Time

Before explaining how to use the Set-Date cmdlet we should note that this is a cmdlet you should use with care. For example, if you’re in an Active Directory environment your workstation times must be closely synchronized with your domain controller times; if they aren’t, you might not be able to log on to the domain. Computer times are often assigned using an automatic time service; in that case, you probably don’t need to (and probably shouldn’t) set dates and times by hand. However, if you do have a need to set dates and times manually then Set-Date provides an easy way to do so.

One way to change the date/time on a computer is to use the -date parameter followed by the new date and time. For example, suppose you want to set the date and time to 8:30 AM on June 1, 2006. Here’s how you do that:

“Set-Date -date "6/1/2006 8:30 AM”

Need to set the clock ahead exactly two days? This command uses the Get-Date cmdlet and the AddDays method to advance the clock two days:

Set-Date ( Get-Date).AddDays (2)

Other methods that can be used here include AddHours, AddMinutes, and AddSeconds. Need to set the clock back 1 hour due to Daylight Saving Time? Then simply set the clock back -1 (minus 1) hours, like this:

Set-Date ( Get-Date).AddHours (-1)