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Trouble sync'ing laptop time outside of domain

A

AndyHancock

Flightless Bird
I am reading the spine-tingling array of pages below in order to
synchronize my laptop's clock with an external time server. I am
using Windows XP Professional SP3, and the account I use is a an admin
account. I am not on a domain, nor a work group. One of the first
things I did was to check Services to ensure that the time service is
running (it is).

I've tried going through the GUI and using w32tm on the command line.

Trying via the GUI
------------------
This is basically right-clicking on the time in the system tray, and
selecting "Adjust Date/Time". I tried with the following time servers
URLs:

pool.ntp.org
0.pool.ntp.org
1.pool.ntp.org
2.pool.ntp.org
3.pool.ntp.org
time.chu.nrc.ca
time.nrc.ca
time.windows.com
time.nist.gov
time-a.nist.gov
time-b.nist.gov
tock.nap.com.ar

I confirm that the time server URL is properly set using one of the
following:

w32tm /dumpreg

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters

Out of desparation, I turned off all firewalls (Kerio PSF 4, Windows
Firewall, and the Speedtouch 585 DSL modem's firewall). The only
thing I get is "An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with
the.time.servers.url". Before I turned off the modem's firewall, I
would get a System Event in Event Log:

The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one
or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently
accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for XX
minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

I tried to do more extensive testing, but could not turn on the
Windows Firewall in order to feel safe doing so. That's another wild
goose chase. The last link in Appendix B below says to use "SC sdshow
SharedAccess", but I get the following error, so I dropped that avenue
of troubleshooting:

[SC] OpenService FAILED 5:
Access is denied.

Funny that this problem, caused by SP2, has not been corrected by
SP3. That's a different story.

Trying via wtm32
----------------
I tried endless variations of the following:

w32tm /config [/update] /manualpeerlist:"The.1st.time.server
The.2nd.time.server ..." [/syncfromflags:MANUAL]

w32tm /resync [/rediscover]

The time servers in the 1st command are chosen from the above list of
time server URLs -- sometimes with just one time server, sometimes
with numerous (if not all) the URLs. The 1st command always completes
"successfully", according the the response, and I confirm the time
server setting using the above "dumpreg" and "reg query" commands.
The 2nd command always fails with:

Sending resync command to local computer...
The computer did not resync because no time data was available.

Unlike the GUI approach, this failure is always accompanied by the
System Event quoted above.

I noted that a time server set using wtm32 doesn't propagate back into
the server field in the GUI. I suspect this is unrelated to the cause
of my sync problem.

Summing it up
-------------
This kind of research and experimentation can take days, and it is the
Nth time I've undertaken to solve the time synchcronization problem
"once and for all". Considering how prevalent this problem is on the
web, and how my DSL modem can sync to NRC with mere seconds of effort,
I wonder if the Windows implementation even allows for a simple and
robust solution for a noncorporate environment. Is there such a
solution?

(I hope Windows 7 doesn't require the same pound of flesh and blood).

Dying In Canada


Appendix A
URLs re. syncing local time to external time server with wtm32
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307897
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc757721(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773013(WS.10).aspx
http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=9ceddb59471f0aa1
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...et-time-servers-from-the-vista-command-prompt
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/dealing-with-windows-vista-time-sync-problems

http://www.pcworld.com/article/76744/is_microsofts_time_warped.html
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=59607
http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=windo...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=22885a39cf464f2b
http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome
http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers

Appendix B
Enabling Windows Firewall
-------------------------
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&c...aller"+event+7023&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
http://kadaitcha.cx/firewalls.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892199/en-us
 
A

AndyHancock

Flightless Bird
P.S. Unlike the problem described in my original post below, the
original problem, and my eventual goal, is to get automatic or one-
touch synchronization working for my *non*admin account, which is also
a domain account. However, it is a domain account on the laptop that
hasn't been in contact with the domain for years. In fact, this
account probably doesn't exist in the actual domain anymore. Granted,
I really should move the contents of the account to a local user
account, but that seemed to be a lot of trouble for no benefit...until
possibly now.

Currently, the sync problem as described below affects a local admin
account, and so is not attributable to the domain-ness of the domain
user account. If I solve the problem of the admin account, and I get
synchronization working for a local user account, and if the solution
does not work for the domain account, then I know I've got to migrate
its contents (if it's still worthwhile -- I'm changing laptops soon,
hence the former comment about hoping that Windows 7 makes
synchronization much easier).

---------- Original message ----------
From: AndyHancock <andymhanc...@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 13, 5:56 pm
Subject: Trouble sync'ing laptop time outside of domain
To: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

w32tm and syncing laptop
------------------------
I am reading the spine-tingling array of pages below in order to
synchronize my laptop's clock with an external time server. I am
using Windows XP Professional SP3, and the account I use is a an admin
account. I am not on a domain, nor a work group. One of the first
things I did was to check Services to ensure that the time service is
running (it is).

I've tried going through the GUI and using w32tm on the command line.

Trying via the GUI
------------------
This is basically right-clicking on the time in the system tray, and
selecting "Adjust Date/Time". I tried with the following time servers
URLs:

pool.ntp.org
0.pool.ntp.org
1.pool.ntp.org
2.pool.ntp.org
3.pool.ntp.org
time.chu.nrc.ca
time.nrc.ca
time.windows.com
time.nist.gov
time-a.nist.gov
time-b.nist.gov
tock.nap.com.ar

I confirm that the time server URL is properly set using one of the
following:

w32tm /dumpreg

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters

Out of desparation, I turned off all firewalls (Kerio PSF 4, Windows
Firewall, and the Speedtouch 585 DSL modem's firewall). The only
thing I get is "An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with
the.time.servers.url". Before I turned off the modem's firewall, I
would get a System Event in Event Log:

The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one
or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently
accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for XX
minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

I tried to do more extensive testing, but could not turn on the
Windows Firewall in order to feel safe doing so. That's another wild
goose chase. The last link in Appendix B below says to use "SC sdshow
SharedAccess", but I get the following error, so I dropped that avenue
of troubleshooting:

[SC] OpenService FAILED 5:
Access is denied.

Funny that this problem, caused by SP2, has not been corrected by
SP3. That's a different story.

Trying via wtm32
----------------
I tried endless variations of the following:

w32tm /config [/update] /manualpeerlist:"The.1st.time.server
The.2nd.time.server ..." [/syncfromflags:MANUAL]

w32tm /resync [/rediscover]

The time servers in the 1st command are chosen from the above list of
time server URLs -- sometimes with just one time server, sometimes
with numerous (if not all) the URLs. The 1st command always completes
"successfully", according the the response, and I confirm the time
server setting using the above "dumpreg" and "reg query" commands.
The 2nd command always fails with:

Sending resync command to local computer...
The computer did not resync because no time data was available.

Unlike the GUI approach, this failure is always accompanied by the
System Event quoted above.

I noted that a time server set using wtm32 doesn't propagate back into
the server field in the GUI. I suspect this is unrelated to the cause
of my sync problem.

Summing it up
-------------
This kind of research and experimentation can take days, and it is the
Nth time I've undertaken to solve the time synchcronization problem
"once and for all". Considering how prevalent this problem is on the
web, and how my DSL modem can sync to NRC with mere seconds of effort,
I wonder if the Windows implementation even allows for a simple and
robust solution for a noncorporate environment. Is there such a
solution?

(I hope Windows 7 doesn't require the same pound of flesh and blood).

Dying In Canada


Appendix A
URLs re. syncing local time to external time server with wtm32
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307897
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc757721(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773013(WS.10).aspx
http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=9ceddb59471f0aa1
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...et-time-servers-from-the-vista-command-prompt
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/dealing-with-windows-vista-time-sync-problems

http://www.pcworld.com/article/76744/is_microsofts_time_warped.html
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=59607
http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=windo...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=22885a39cf464f2b
http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome
http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers

Appendix B
Enabling Windows Firewall
-------------------------
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&c...aller"+event+7023&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
http://kadaitcha.cx/firewalls.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892199/en-us
 
Æ

Ǝиçεl

Flightless Bird
Do not use more than one firewall, 2 or more is a sure way to hit trouble,
just as with AV's.

"AndyHancock" wrote:

> I am reading the spine-tingling array of pages below in order to
> synchronize my laptop's clock with an external time server. I am
> using Windows XP Professional SP3, and the account I use is a an admin
> account. I am not on a domain, nor a work group. One of the first
> things I did was to check Services to ensure that the time service is
> running (it is).
>
> I've tried going through the GUI and using w32tm on the command line.
>
> Trying via the GUI
> ------------------
> This is basically right-clicking on the time in the system tray, and
> selecting "Adjust Date/Time". I tried with the following time servers
> URLs:
>
> pool.ntp.org
> 0.pool.ntp.org
> 1.pool.ntp.org
> 2.pool.ntp.org
> 3.pool.ntp.org
> time.chu.nrc.ca
> time.nrc.ca
> time.windows.com
> time.nist.gov
> time-a.nist.gov
> time-b.nist.gov
> tock.nap.com.ar
>
> I confirm that the time server URL is properly set using one of the
> following:
>
> w32tm /dumpreg
>
> reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters
>
> Out of desparation, I turned off all firewalls (Kerio PSF 4, Windows
> Firewall, and the Speedtouch 585 DSL modem's firewall). The only
> thing I get is "An error occurred while Windows was synchronizing with
> the.time.servers.url". Before I turned off the modem's firewall, I
> would get a System Event in Event Log:
>
> The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one
> or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently
> accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for XX
> minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.
>
> I tried to do more extensive testing, but could not turn on the
> Windows Firewall in order to feel safe doing so. That's another wild
> goose chase. The last link in Appendix B below says to use "SC sdshow
> SharedAccess", but I get the following error, so I dropped that avenue
> of troubleshooting:
>
> [SC] OpenService FAILED 5:
> Access is denied.
>
> Funny that this problem, caused by SP2, has not been corrected by
> SP3. That's a different story.
>
> Trying via wtm32
> ----------------
> I tried endless variations of the following:
>
> w32tm /config [/update] /manualpeerlist:"The.1st.time.server
> The.2nd.time.server ..." [/syncfromflags:MANUAL]
>
> w32tm /resync [/rediscover]
>
> The time servers in the 1st command are chosen from the above list of
> time server URLs -- sometimes with just one time server, sometimes
> with numerous (if not all) the URLs. The 1st command always completes
> "successfully", according the the response, and I confirm the time
> server setting using the above "dumpreg" and "reg query" commands.
> The 2nd command always fails with:
>
> Sending resync command to local computer...
> The computer did not resync because no time data was available.
>
> Unlike the GUI approach, this failure is always accompanied by the
> System Event quoted above.
>
> I noted that a time server set using wtm32 doesn't propagate back into
> the server field in the GUI. I suspect this is unrelated to the cause
> of my sync problem.
>
> Summing it up
> -------------
> This kind of research and experimentation can take days, and it is the
> Nth time I've undertaken to solve the time synchcronization problem
> "once and for all". Considering how prevalent this problem is on the
> web, and how my DSL modem can sync to NRC with mere seconds of effort,
> I wonder if the Windows implementation even allows for a simple and
> robust solution for a noncorporate environment. Is there such a
> solution?
>
> (I hope Windows 7 doesn't require the same pound of flesh and blood).
>
> Dying In Canada
>
>
> Appendix A
> URLs re. syncing local time to external time server with wtm32
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307897
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc757721(WS.10).aspx
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773013(WS.10).aspx
> http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=9ceddb59471f0aa1
> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...et-time-servers-from-the-vista-command-prompt
> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/dealing-with-windows-vista-time-sync-problems
>
> http://www.pcworld.com/article/76744/is_microsofts_time_warped.html
> http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=59607
> http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=windo...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=22885a39cf464f2b
> http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome
> http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers
>
> Appendix B
> Enabling Windows Firewall
> -------------------------
> http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&c...aller"+event+7023&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
> http://kadaitcha.cx/firewalls.html
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892199/en-us
> .
>
 
A

AndyHancock

Flightless Bird
On Jun 13, 7:07 pm, Ǝиçεl <l...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Do not use more than one firewall, 2 or more is a sure way to hit trouble,
> just as with AV's.


I think on the whole, I agree. As I mentioned, I had all firewalls
off (and could not even activate the Windows Firewall even if I wanted
to). For me, Kerio is *the* firewall. The modem firewall has never
really had any effect on anything and it's trivial to turn off. It
just happen to come with the modem, so I turned it on one day to see
whether it made any difference, and it never has. Like the philosophy
of multi-layered defence, though marginally (if at all), and easy to
turn off if it any undesired interference is experienced.
 
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