Contents for Windows NT Time Zone Editor

The Time Zone Editor creates and edits time zone entries for the Date/Time icon in Control Panel.

Note:	You must be a member of the Administrators group to edit or create time zone entries.

How To...

 Edit Time Zones

 Create New Time Zones


Edit Time Zones

You can edit a time zone name or adjust the start and end dates for daylight saving time. All time zone information changed will affect every user of the system.

To edit a time zone

1	In the Windows NT Time Zone Editor dialog box, select a time zone and choose the Edit button.

2	You can change the time zone name, abbreviation, or the difference from Greenwich Mean Time.

The abbreviation is a short string name passed back to applications that ask for more information about this time zone. This is the Standard abbreviation that applies to the Standard time zone. In the Daylight Saving Time box, the Abbreviation box is the Daylight abbreviation that applies when daylight saving time is in effect. Many communication applications, such as Mail applications, may use this information.

3	If you want daylight saving time to be automatically enabled for the time zone, select the Automatically Set Daylight Saving Time option. Then, in the boxes below, fill in the start and stop days and times.

In the Abbreviation box, type a name to apply when daylight saving time is in effect.

In the Daylight Bias box, select the amount of time to move forward or backward from the Standard time for daylight saving time.  In most cases this value should stay at the default value of +1:00 hour.  This will cause your time to move forward by one hour on the daylight saving time start day/time and fall back one hour on the daylight saving time last day/time.

Any changes, additions, deletions, etc., made with Time Zone Editor affect the stored data for time zones in the Registry. If a time zone is already set on the system, that data is saved in another location in the Registry. In order for that new information to be used by the system, you must use Control Panels Date/Time icon and select or reselect the time zone. Then press the OK button for the new information to be used by the system.


Create New Time Zones

You can use the Time Zone Editor to create new time zone entries for the Date/Time icon. You can have an unlimited number of time zones customized anyway you want.

To create a new time zone

1	In the Windows NT Time Zone Editor dialog box, choose the New button.

2	In the Time Zone Name box, type a name for the time zone displayed in the Date/Time icon.

Every time zone name should start with the general template GMT+\- 0x:00, and cannot exceed 63 characters. This will ensure that the time zone name is sorted in the list box and placed in its proper order (for example, GMT+03:00  or  GMT-04:00).

3	In the Abbreviation box, type a name for the Standard time zone name abbreviation. The name should not exceed 31 characters.

The abbreviation is a short string name passed back to applications that ask for more information about this time zone. This is the Standard abbreviation that applies to the Standard time zone. In the Daylight Saving Time box, the Abbreviation box is the Daylight abbreviation that applies when daylight saving time is in effect. Many communication applications, such as Mail applications, may use this information.

4	In the Offset From GMT box, select the time difference from Greenwich Mean Time. This value is the actual number that gets used in the data fields to determine this time zones bias from Greenwich Mean Time.

5	If you want daylight saving time to be automatically enabled for the time zone (if the area uses daylight saving time), select the Automatically Set Daylight Saving Time checkbox. Then, in the boxes below, fill in the start and stop days and times.

The Abbreviation box is an optional entry. Type a name to apply when daylight saving time is in effect.

In the Daylight Bias box, select the amount of time to move forward or backward from the Standard time for daylight saving time. In most cases this value should stay at the default value of +1:00 hour. This will cause your time to move forward by one hour on the daylight saving time start day/time and fall back one hour on the daylight saving time last day/time.

Any changes, additions, deletions, etc., made with Time Zone Editor affect the stored data for time zones in the Registry. If a time zone is already set on the system, that data is saved in another location in the Registry. In order for that new information to be used by the system, you must use Control Panels Date/Time icon and select or reselect the time zone. Then press the OK button for the new information to be used by the system.

All changes are stored in the Registry under the key where the time zones are stored:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\TimeZones

Do not try to edit that information directly with the Registry Editor utility. Instead, the Time Zone Editor program should be used because some of the information is stored in binary form.