Change clock to and from military time in Windows

Posted on August 13, 2008 at 5:29 am

Most people probably don’t care, but the default time display in Windows is 12 hour format, not military time. However, for all of the people who routinely tell time using the military time format, being able to change it on their computers can prove to be very useful.

You would think it would be super easy to change the clock in Windows to military time, but it’s not! It’s never easy! That’s why IT people like me still have jobs. Here are the steps you need to take in order to change your Windows time to military format.

First open the Control Panel and then open Regional and Language Options. If you don’t see the icons, click the Switch to Classic View link at the top left.

Next click on the Customize button on the Regional Options tab.

Click on the Time tab and choose any of the options with the upper case H. Lower case h means 12 hour and upper case H means 24 hour format.

Now click OK until you are back to the Control Panel. Whew! Not easy at all! Not sure why they don’t just put the option in the Date and Time Properties dialog when you double click on the time in your system tray, that would make much more sense.

Also, check out a previous post I wrote on how you can customize the way Windows display time by adding your name. Enjoy!

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Comments

16 Responses to “Change clock to and from military time in Windows”

Internet Marketing Company said on : August 13th, 2008 at 6:08 am

Hey, that’s a great tip.. thanks.

David "CrazyKinux" Perry said on : August 13th, 2008 at 7:31 am

Thanks for the tip. Never knew you could do that, and being French-Canadian, this 24-hours display is a blessing!

CK

john said on : August 14th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

thnx dude

MK said on : August 14th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

Good to know ….thanks !

B8L0A1M said on : September 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 pm

I really do appreciate the info on changing the time!

lisa said on : December 9th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Thank you so much! I was finally able to get my computer’s clock off of the military time format!

Ann said on : December 28th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

Thank you very much! I was unable to put back to standard after puter guy changed it. Could not figure the time out and neither could grandkids.

Charlie said on : January 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm

Thanks, after running ComboFix it set my clock to military time. A quick google search later and I came across your excellent article. Much appricated!!!

Wade said on : January 23rd, 2009 at 7:19 pm

Thank you so much!! like Charlie, something I ran changed my clock to military time. I’m so used to number crunching that when I first noticed it, I didn’t even really think about it. It’s not like its hard, it’s just ANNOYING when all my clocks tell me different things. Thank you for this tidbit, I know my way around windows, and this I’ve never seen And I agree about the Time and Date on the start bar. I was double checking that thing over and over to see if I missed it. TY again!