How To Change the TimeZone on Ubuntu 23.10
In this wiki article, We will learn how to change the Timezone on Ubuntu 23.10 using the timedatectl
command.
Check your Current TimeZone
To get detailed information on your Ubuntu date, time, and timezone you use the timedatectl command.
timedatectl
Output:
root@ubuntu:~# timedatectl
Local time: Fri 2023-04-14 18:55:03 UTC
Universal time: Fri 2023-04-14 18:55:03 UTC
RTC time: Fri 2023-04-14 18:55:03
Time zone: Etc/UTC (UTC, +0000)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
The TimeZone configuration on Ubuntu OS is stored set by the /etc/localtime
file. This file is a symbolic link to a timezone file under /usr/share/zoneinfo
.
To get a basic view of the timezone you can ls the file to its symbolic link.
ls -l /etc/localtime
Output:
root@ubuntu:~# ls -l /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Mar 29 09:19 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC
The system’s timezone is also written to the /etc/timezone file.
cat /etc/timezone
Output:
root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/timezone
Etc/UTC
Listing TimeZones
Using list-timezones
option to list TimeZones available, this can be used later to set as default.
timedatectl list-timezones
Output:
root@ubuntu:~# timedatectl list-timezones
Africa/Abidjan
Africa/Accra
Africa/Addis_Ababa
Africa/Algiers
Africa/Asmara
Africa/Asmera
Africa/Bamako
Africa/Bangui
Africa/Banjul
Africa/Bissau
Africa/Blantyre
.....
Set your Preferred TimeZone
Once you have the list of timezones, you can set the one you prefer.
timedatectl set-timezone your_time_zone
Example:
root@ubuntu:~# timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York
Confirm your changes were applied by running the timedatactl command.
timedatectl
Output:
root@ubuntu:~# timedatectl
Local time: Mon 2023-10-16 16:53:28 EDT
Universal time: Mon 2023-10-16 20:53:28 UTC
RTC time: Mon 2023-10-16 20:53:28
Time zone: America/New_York (EDT, -0400)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
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