System clock keeps changing to the wrong time zone after every reboot

Question

Hi everyone!

My PC clock keeps resetting itself to the wrong time zone (it changes to Pacific Time, but I live in the Eastern Time zone). I go into settings, turn off "Set time zone automatically", and manually change it to Eastern. It fixes it temporarily, but as soon as I restart my computer, it goes right back to Pacific Time. It's messing up my calendar invites and emails! Please help!

Answer 1

Hi Rizky,

This behavior usually points to the system pulling its time zone from a higher‑level configuration, not just your local setting. Windows will revert to whatever is defined in Group Policy, domain GPOs, or sometimes by location services if those are still active. Check under gpedit.msc at Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Time Zone to see if a policy is enforcing Pacific Time. If the machine is domain‑joined, confirm with your AD administrator whether a GPO is pushing that setting.

If no GPO is in play, verify that the Windows Time service (w32time) isn’t syncing with a source that includes time zone data. Normally NTP only adjusts the clock, but some OEM utilities or management agents can override the zone. Also make sure the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation reflects Eastern Time after you change it; if it resets on reboot, something external is overwriting it. Disabling “Set time zone automatically” is correct, but you’ll need to eliminate the policy or service that keeps forcing Pacific. Once that’s removed, your manual Eastern Time setting will persist across restarts.

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Harry.