I know I have been focusing on this so much..but if you can just BRIEFLY explain if this other method of mine will cause any conflicts or not??

1. Will setting the the DISPLAYED (desktop clock) in Windows to LOCAL, and setting the clock and time to UTC in Solaris and keeping the INTERNAL CLOCK as UTC..will this method cause any problems? Or, should I leave both display clocks as local time?

2. And I still dont understand on why I have to set to adjust DST time automatically in Windows if UTC does not adjust.

Preferably, UNIX systems SHOULD operate their displayed clocks as UTC also along with the INTERNAL UTC setting...

Sorry and thanks...you have been a huge huge help..

1. no problems on the Solaris side. A slim risk with Windows, as this registry key seems to be undocumented and modifying it is probably unsupported. But anyway, there are a lot of bigger risks taken when using such a weak O/S.

2. "Adjust time automatically" simply ask the system to adjust its clock when the current selected timezone change from DST to regular.
This event never happen on UTC, so there is no reason to worry about it.
You may not be aware that this is not specific to UTC. Many countries over the world do not change their clocks twice a year, and still have this option available in the GUI, I suppose.
For those which do change, the event doesn't always happen at the same time (Europe and US aren't on sync), and the shift is reversed for those countries in the southern hemisphere, like Australia and NZ.

So whats you opinion?

I would REALLY REALLY like to have Solaris displayed time to use UTC and of course leaving the internal clock UTC also (which we did)...

UNIX has a standard of keeping UTC time. Both internally and externally esp. on servers.

1. I would like Windows to keep the LOCAL TIMEZONE. If I really did decide on this method, do you really think that the clocks on both OSses will be really problematic during the next DST change? If not and you think its OK, then do I have to leave the "Adjust time automatically" kept CHECKED no matter what I do?

I just want to prevent the same problems that I had with the clocks being different from each other during DST and I want to prevent the same thing from happening again if I decide to keep Solaris on UTC and leaving Windows on LOCAL TIME while keeping the INTERNAL CLOCK as UTC. Thats all.

Thanks...

If you say its not really a good idea, than I'll just leave both on local time. As long as the INTERNAL CLOCK is kept in UTC i am happy...

I think it's okay but I may be wrong, but you should ask that question to Windows experts, on Windows forums.
I'm not a windows expert at all, I've stopped installing and using Windows on any PC I manage.
Alternatively, you could experiment on a test PC setting the cmos clock to UTC and see how "adjust time automatically" affect it during time zone changes.
I understand that, if you are really concerned about that solution, you can also stay in the previous configuration (cmos clock set at localtime) and have each O/S synchronizing its clock automatically at reboot time to a freely available reference.
Under Solaris, you can do that by creating a file named "/etc/rc2.d/S99rdate" containing this single line:
I'm sure some equivalent tool does exists on Windows, but I can't help you finding it.

Since I like keeping the CMOS time in UTC..I will not mess with it..If I do decide to set Solaris UTC, and Windows local and if anything goes wrong, I'll just correct it manually..No big deal...

For now, I will just go by the instructions that you first posted..

Anyway,leaving the CMOS clock as UTC and BOTH display clocks as LOCAL, the problem I had will not occur at all during the next DST time? In other words, if I leave everything the way it is per following those instructions, I will not have any issues the way I did before?


Thanks

You'll know it for sure at the next DST time change, or possibly before if you experiment on a test machine as I already suggested.

I did the test on my machine since I dont have another machine to test it with.. Heres what I did:

1. Set Solaris to UTC...

2. Logged off and booted into Windows. Changed the LOCAL TIME (manually) 1 hour back with the "adjust to dst automatically" being checked.

3. Resarted the machine...Then went back into Solaris and now its showing the correct UTC time...

4. And the INTERNAL CLOCK is still left as UTC...I forgot to mention that..

Hopefully, I did this test the right way...Please say that this test was done the right way or not? I would appreciate it..

OK...a bit of test results for you...After logging off Solaris now...and booting to Windows again, I noticed that the WIndows time was showing 07:45....instead of 06:45...Like I said, I set it ONE HOUR back...and then it seems like it got switched AHEAD back to the normal hour automatically to 07:45 again...

So..what do you think??? Did these test results seem to be suited for my needs??

Ok...I switched back to LOCAL TIME in Solaris and then after doing that gain, I logged off and booted into Windows again..Nothing changed in Windows...It still had the original time...thats good...

SO....I guess keeping the INTERNAL CLOCK or the CMOS CLOCK in UTC helps alot...

So what do you think about the test and my results?? Does it suit on what I was asking for?

They look promising.
I think so, but you are the only one qualified to answer.

Now....

I booted into Windows changing the time BACK one hour again and this time WITHOUT the "adjust" box being checked..

Then I booted into Solaris, and the time in Solaris DID NOT change...Its the normal LOCAL TIME...

I guess the CMOS INTERNAL clock being set to UTC does the trick...

thanks for your help.

i did some more tests and all seems to be in perfect shape just as I wanted to be..

But nextime when I change the time under Solaris manually using the date command..do I have to enter the date or just the times like this:

# date HHMMSS

or..

# date MMDDYYHHMMSS

Does it even matter?

It doesn't matter, except that none of the formats you posted are correct.

You should have use instead:

# date HHMM.SS
or
# date mmddHHMMYY.SS

well..thanks alot...

Quick question again regarding setting Solaris to UTC and leaving Windows to LOCAL time....

Solaris may (or may not) have its own local conversion. The only thing I should worry about is that Solaris also knows that the CMOS clock is set to UTC and not try to set it to the local time.

Please advise...

Thanks

What is your question ?

But if Windows local time changes the local time automatically (IN WINDOWS) using that UTC conversion from the Real Time clock (UTC)...will Solaris's display clock (on the desktop) WILL change or NOT when THAT clock (again Solaris's)...is set to UTC??? (DURING THE DST CHANGE)...In other words, will Solaris change it back to LOCAL TIME (from UTC) DURING the Daylight Savings Time or will it remain as UTC?

Im talking about the displayed time and not the CMOS UTC time...