XLSTAT reports that computer time is misconfigured

XLSTAT might report that the time of your computer is misconfigured. This article describes how to fix the issue.

How to fix it?

On Windows

• Right-click on your computer time, located most of the time in the bottom right corner of your screen

• Click on "Adjust date/time"

• Enable the "Set the time automatically" option

• Enable the "Set the time zone automatically" option

• Close the window

• Open XLSTAT again

On MacOS

• Click on your computer time, located most of the time in the top right corner of your screen

• Click on "Open Date & Time Preferences"

• Click on the padlock on the bottom left of the window. Type in your username and password when prompted

• Enable the "Set the date and time automatically" option

• On the same line, select the time server corresponding to your location

• Close the settings window

• Restart your Mac

• Open XLSTAT again

Frequently asked questions

I have set the time and date to be automatic, but this leads to an invalid time on my clock, how do I fix this?

In some rare cases the operating system (eg Windows) fails to properly detect the timezone in effect in your location. In such a case, leave the "Set the time automatically" parameter enabled, but disable "Set the time zone automatically". You can then manually change the timezone to be the one in use in your location.

What is the issue?

This issue arises when the computer clock is not in sync with the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which can be for example viewed on this website . This time is global and is the one onto which the timezone in effect in your location is applied on.

Some operations require that, when contacting remote servers, the UTC time configured on the computer matches the one of the remote server. In case where it does not, errors such as the one you might have experienced typically appear. Such synchronization needs are commonly required by software licensing systems, for example.

Why does this happen?

This happens most of the time when the clock of a computer is changed manually by the user rather than leaving the task to be done automatically by the operating system.

Although much rarer, this could also happen on older computer that were left unpowered for a long time or if the computer was unproperly configured in the first place.

How can I verify whether my clock is properly synchronized?

The time displayed on this website should be the same as the one configured on your device, which is different than the one displayed on your taskbar. You may see below for details on how to retrieve it for your device.

The universal time set on your device can be retrieved via the following Powershell command:

(Get-Date).ToUniversalTime()

If they are different by more than a few seconds or minutes, it means the clock of your computer is not synchronized. Follow the procedure above to fix it.

How come the clock of my computer displays the proper time and date and everything worked fine until now?

While a misconfigured computer clock can display the correct time for where you are, some systems require that it is properly set and synchronized with the one used on the internet. It is possible that you did not have to use such a system until now.