Network Time now

When you are looking for a programme that keeps the system time exactly, you have just found it! The NetTime application was initially developed by Graham Mainwaring in 1997 with an open code 1998 edition. NetTime has been revived by me, Mark Griffiths, and I am now making an upgraded copy available:

When you find NetTime useful, consider making a contribution to show your esteem and promote the advancement of NetTime! If you are upgrading from an earlier release, you must silence both the NetTime Service and the tray icon before you can run the installation program. Cannot synchronize NetTime - it tells you that all server are down:

This is most often caused by a network time protocol (UDP 123 port) being blocked by a network time protocol server (firewall) between your system and the server NetTime is trying to use. When you can run a UDP trace route to Port 123 on one of the time slots you are using, this should give you an idea of where the firewall is.

If there is a large time gap between the locale system and the time given back by the time servers, NetTime checks itself off with a remote system to make sure that the time it has been receiving is actually time.

When it cannot find a distinct Secondary Server that provides a time exactly equal to the time given back by the primary one, it fails with Inconsistent Responses, the most frequent cause being when more than one machine is set up but pointing to the same IP location, or when you use the standard machines and are in a single NTP pool with only one real machine.

Potential fixes are to either delete all but one hostname - in which case the time it returns will always be used - even if it is not valid, or to switch your hosts - if you use the NTP pool hosts, you should refer to the hosts for a wider area.

The NetTime synchronizes, but the time has elapsed by one full stop - e.g. summer time is not considered correctly: The NetTime works with UTC (Universal Time) and has no codes for summer time or time zone use. If Windows is properly set up, it should apply changes to summer time for you as well.

When Windows does not handle it properly, it most likely needs to be upgraded. It is also possible to enter your time zones information by hand using the free Microsoft tool: As an alternative, the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools reports that it contains a command-line time zoning utility. exe Tool for advanced users.

I' ve set up NetTime to make time available to other machines, but it doesn't work: Make sure that Windows Time Service is turned off along with any other NTP that might be running. Windows Time Service is not on. Also make sure that Windows Firewall and other Firewall do not damage your NetTime connection. The offset is the time differential between the time of the system and the time of the time return from the time domain generator.

Lying is the time it took for NetTime's query to go to the servers and the reply came back. While NetTime has coding to try to offset connection with high delay times, it won't work well for connection with asymmetrical network delay - i.e. when the time it will take for the query to go out is significantly different from the time the reply comes back.

Is it possible to set NetTime to use a proxieserver? Unfortunately the Network Time Protocol does not allow the use of multiplexes, so this is not an optional feature and there is nothing I can do about it - sorry! When NetTime does not work properly for you, please turn on debug-level auditing, try performing another time synchronization, and then e-mail me with your protocol attachment along with a verbose explanation of the issue you have.

Maximum Free Run: Specifies how long the application will run without receiving a correct synchronization before it believes the time is not exact anymore. As soon as this time has expired, the trace symbol changes to a tick and if it is set as a time slot, it no longer responds to queries for time.

When the time settings are greater than: Per default, this means that the locale time is refreshed regardless of the amount of time that is different between the actual locale time and the time notified by the remoting relay. Normally there should be no need to modify this, as the latest NetTime release checks with more than one machine to make sure it is not using void time.

Take care of time: Normally, NetTime makes time available to other machines only if it is set up and successfully synchronized with an up-stream server. Enabling the Always make time available checkbox will cause it to output void time to all connected devices!

When you use NetTime to act as a time machine, you must first turn off the built-in time service in Windows. While the Windows Time Service manual indicates that deactivating the service can stop other service loads, I'm not currently informed about those that actually need it.

Deactivating the Windows Time Service is an option if you are not using NetTime as a time machine, but it shouldn't hurt to deactivate it to store a little amount of memory. The above memory locations are used on 64-bit systems: Enhanced form viewing on large font system.

When NetTime is run as a trace symbol, a warning is displayed when the application is restarted prompting the operator to click on the trace symbol. Solved Treatment of "Max Free Run Time" If the time synchronization failed, the application changes directly to the state " Time Sync Lost" after "Max Free Run Time" has expired - now shows "Time Synchronization due" with an orange tray symbol.

The Log Viewer now updates itself transparently in live time when run as a daemon (previously it would only refresh when not run as a daemon). 14: Enhanced NTP/SNTP compatible with other NTP/SNTP customers when NetTime acts as a relay - e.g. Windows built-in Time Agent. Enhanced usability when UAC and services are deactivated.

Add video file to display the trace symbol again after a Windows Explorer crash. 11: Added a VCL plug work-around that could have prevented the NetTime client from being correctly deployed in very infrequent cases. 1: A Windows NT4 execution issue has been resolved. Add a ballon tip to the tray icons when it is run after install to indicate that NetTime is being run.

If the setting of this item is such that the time is not changed when the setting is large, the system will now ask the operator if he wants to perform a manually-scan. Ability added to always make time available when serving as a remote site. NetTime's latest release was created and debugged with Borland Delphi 7 Professional. Previous releases have also been successfully piloted to build successfully with the Personal Edition of Delphi 7 - if you are entering Delphi and want to make changes to NetTime, you may still find a copy of the Delphi 7 Personal Edition that you can still get if you are looking for enough.

NetTime, like most SNTP client, usually synchronizes your system time within 100 ms after the right time - often within 10 ms. Obviously, precision depends heavily on the precision of the servers it connects to - This upgraded NetTime release contains enhancements to make sure that even a poorly accurate time slot does not prevent system timeout - see History & Other Notes below for more information.

Unbalanced latencies (network delays that last longer in one direction than in the other) can also have a negative effect on timing precision. Between these time synchronizations, the system can run at its usual rate, which can mean that it is either running quickly or slowly - and suspend the system time until the next synchronization occurs.

How fast the system time differs from the right time strongly varies depending on the system architecture and, to some degree, which piece of code is running. An overwhelming majority of NetTime endpoints should find that NetTime more than fulfills their needs, but if you have special needs for a very precise time, I suggest you consider the installation of a full NTP clients.

While you can configure NetTime to synchronize more often to correct for an imprecise system clock, this is not really advisable because it puts more load on the NTP server. The full NTP clients have additional capabilities to provide better timing precision (typically well under 10 ms even between time synchronizations) by adapting the system running time.

Also, if you manage a large number of PC seats for an enterprise, it is advisable to have a full NTPlient configured on your network and the remainder of your system synchronized with an SNTP server - further reducing the burden on your time server and making sure that all your system is synchronized with a unique time well.

One of the reasons Graham gave up the NetTime projects was that Windows 2000 and XP already included a SNTP clients and a free Microsoft Windows NT file was available. While Graham described the Microsoft NTP clients as fully-fledged, I don't agree - I would describe the Windows SNTP clients as very simple - the GUI has only 2 functions - so the SNTP servers can be modified and a push to try instant synchronization.

Ultimately, even when you edit your registration preferences, the Microsoft Dynamics Studio is still just an SNTP desktop computer with the restriction that it can only synchronize with a central point of synchronization. In order to avoid the Microsoft SNTP clients having the system time set to a wrong value, Microsoft has made the designer choice that its clients would only refresh the system time if the servers reply within 15 hour of the time.

However, it also has the effect that if the system time is not at least reasonably precise, it would never be until it is specified by hand! Microsoft has loosened the rule for Windows Vista (and 7) so that the system time is incorrect (at least when a manual trigger ing of an upgrade is used) without the SNTP clients having to upgrade the system time.

Of course, this means that an erroneous answer from the time servers can cause the system time to be exceeded. Windows Time Service in Windows 7 is also set by Default not to run every time the system is booted - the UI tells you that Windows is set to run system time updates but does not, unless the Windows Time Service is launched either by the Control Panel application or by hand synchronization.

Failure to configure the Windows Time Service to launch itself will cause it to be deactivated each time the system is rebooted! The NetTime makes sure that the system time is not set to an erroneous value by always using a second relay (if configured) to check if the time is more than 10 seconds.

Apart from a big flaw in the application layout or a very persistent effort to corrupt the system time with a malicious RTS engine, NetTime will never fix an illegal system time!