How to Set Date and Time on Rocky Linux 8 Desktop and Server

Here are the two ways to set a date and time on Rocky Linux 8 or AlmaLinux using the command terminal and graphical user interface.

There are many processes on the Linux operating system that requires the correct system date and time. Also, to update the system properly and other processes like cronjobs we must need the up-to-date time & date. However, Linux or any other OS automatically syncs the system time from the server, in case not or you want to change the timezone manually then let’s explore how to do that.

Use GUI to set time and date in Rocky Linux 8

Step 1: Go to your default Rocky Linux Gnome GUI, select the drop-notch icon given on the right top side to open the menu. From there click on the Settings icon. If you are using some other Desktop interface then can open Settings from the Application launcher.

Rocky Linux settings

Step 2: Under Settings either search for Date and time or simply go to Devices and then select Time and Date.

Go to Devices Settings

 

Step 3: If Automatic Date & Time has been enabled and you want to set it manually. Then first turn it off.  Or simply disable and enable it to sync the system clock.

Automatice Date and time set linux

 

Step 4: However, for those who want to set manually the clock after turning Automatic updating off, the grey “Date & Time” settings will appear to change manually. Select it.

Select Date and time rocky linux

Step 5: Enter the Time and the date you want to have on your Rocky Linux system. In the same way, you can also update the Time zone manually.

Adjust Time and date linux

Step 6: Well, if you think the Automatic Date & Time is working fine, then enable the toggle the “Automatic Time Zone” button to update the same using the internet access.

Automatic Set Time zone

 

Update Date & Time zone on command terminal on Rocky Linux

To check the time and date on the command terminal 

timedatectl status
or 
timedatectl

command to check time and date on rocky linux

 

To get the list of available Time-zones and change it, run:

timedatectl list-timezones

Whereas to select some particular timezone:

timedatectl set-timezone select-the-time-zone

Example:

timedatectl set-timezone Africa/Cairo

Get the list time zone

 

For changing the Time on Rocky Linux manually run:

To change the time or date, first, we have to manually disable the NTP – Network Time Protocol that is handled by Chrony on Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux even on CentOS 8.  Hence,  to manually update the time, first stop this service:

sudo systemctl stop chronyd
# now chnage time 

timedatectl set-time enter-the-time

Example:

timedatectl set-time 02:10:00

Stop NTP server in Rocky Linux

 

To change Date use the following command syntax

timedatectl set-time date

Example:

timedatectl set-time 2021-11-11

command Update Date rocky linux

If you want to update both time and date using the command line at once, use the following syntax.

timedatectl set-time ‘2021-10-11 12:15:25’

 

 

 

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.