automatic time sync

[phoneguyinpgh]

I need a little advise with my HTPCs.  The BIOS clocks seems to drift quite a bit so after about a week or two the PC clocks are off by about 3-4 min.  I usually manually resync them through the internet time to time.nist.gov once a recording or two have been chopped off in the front or back end.   But I was wondering if there is any way that W7 could do this automaticaly every 60 min or so when the PC is on.  Or is there a program that can do that for me??

 

I would be greatfull for any tips.

[mikinho]

We actually have a tip going about this that is being prepared but below is the setting you’ll want to use.

I recommend using pool.ntp.org instead of the default Microsoft servers as historically it doesn’t do a good job and are saturated.
 

So to configure:
 
1-      The registry key first for every 12 hours.  You don’t want to do it every hour as it doesn’t help and just congests the NTP server more.

 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001servicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClient]
“SpecialPollInterval”=dword:0000a8c0

 
2-      The time server and telling the service that the configuration has changed

 
w32tm /config /update /manualpeerlist:”pool.ntp.org” /syncfromflags:MANUAL
 
3-      The synchronization

 
w32tm /resync 

[phoneguyinpgh]

Mike,

I have a WHS.  What if I follow this Wiki??

http://wiki.wegotserved.com/index.php?title=Using_Windows_Home_Server_As_a_Time_Server

[mikinho]

That works as well!  At home I do something similar but with my router as the NTP server.  I still stick to every 12 hours myself but I also haven’t ever had a time lapse issue.

[phoneguyinpgh]

What kind of router?  Is it just a typical home router like a D-Link??

[mikinho]

It is a pfSense 2.0 RC2 AMD64* based router running on a Super Micro 5015A-EHF-D525 (Intel Atom D525, Dual Intel NICs, 4GB RAM, 16 GB SSD)

 

* They, pfSense (along with a lot of others), use AMD64 for x86-64 builds.  I still prefer x86-64 over any other naming.

[phoneguyinpgh]

Mike

Far too advanced for me.  I followed that guide and it’s working great.  I want to resync ever hour because there are days when the HTPCs are only on for a few hours.  This way I won’t overload an internet NTP server and since I only have 5 PCs in the house I shouldn’t be overloading my WHS.  Thanks for the tips though.

 

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