Setting Up Time and Timezone on Raspberry Pi via Terminal¶
This guide provides step-by-step instructions for configuring the system time and timezone on a Raspberry Pi using the terminal. These steps apply to Raspberry Pi OS and other Linux-based distributions.
1. Check Current System Time¶
Before making changes, check the current system time with:
date
This command displays the current date and time in the system's configured timezone.
2. Set the Timezone¶
To set the correct timezone, follow these steps:
List Available Timezones¶
To find the appropriate timezone, use:
timedatectl list-timezones
grep to filter:
timedatectl list-timezones | grep America
Set the Timezone¶
Once you identify the correct timezone, set it with:
sudo timedatectl set-timezone <Your-Timezone>
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York
To verify the change, run:
date
timedatectl status
3. Enable Network Time Synchronization (NTP)¶
For automatic time synchronization using an NTP server:
sudo timedatectl set-ntp on
sudo systemctl restart systemd-timesyncd
timedatectl status
System clock synchronized: yes.
If the system is not syncing, try restarting the service:
sudo systemctl restart systemd-timesyncd
4. Manually Set the System Time (If No Internet Access)¶
If you do not have internet access and need to manually set the time:
sudo date -s "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS"
sudo date -s "2025-02-11 14:30:00"
To verify:
date
5. Configure the Hardware Clock (RTC)¶
If your Raspberry Pi has a Real-Time Clock (RTC) module, update the hardware clock to retain the time after reboots.
Save System Time to RTC¶
sudo hwclock --systohc
Set System Time from RTC¶
To restore system time from RTC on boot:
sudo hwclock --hctosys
To check the RTC time:
sudo hwclock -r
6. Verify All Changes¶
After making changes, confirm the configuration with:
date
timedatectl status
By following this guide, you can ensure that your Raspberry Pi maintains accurate time settings, even across reboots and network changes.