Set the Time Zone with Set-TimeZone
List available Windows time zones and switch the system zone from PowerShell — no Settings navigation.
01Command
$ Get-TimeZone -ListAvailable | Where-Object Id -like "*China*"
Set-TimeZone "China Standard Time"02What it does
New PCs sometimes ship with the wrong zone, dual-boot machines fight over the hardware clock, and cloned VMs inherit their template's zone — Set-TimeZone fixes all of these in scripts and interactively. Zone names are Windows registry identifiers like "China Standard Time" or "W. Europe Standard Time", which rarely match the city names people expect, so always list with Get-TimeZone -ListAvailable and filter before setting. The change is instant: the clock re-renders, and apps pick up the new zone on their next time check. This differs from Set-Date, which nudges the clock value itself and gets overridden by the next sync.
03Risk
04Undo
✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.
05Sources
- Set-TimeZoneEvidence: Documents Set-TimeZone and Get-TimeZone -ListAvailable for viewing and setting the system time zone.
Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: System & Settings
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