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Microsoft Windows systems and daylight-saving time changes in 2007 for systems administrators

Microsoft Windows

To be compatible with the upcoming daylight-saving time changes on the Windows platform, you must be running:

These updates are available through both the Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites.

Microsoft is also offering several on-demand chats to provide guidance for the DST 2007 changes. It can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx

NOTE: Ensure that the "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes" check box is checked.

Earlier Versions of Windows

For systems that are unable to be upgraded prior to March 11, 2007 - please refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article describing 2 different manual procedures: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387

There is also a web cast archive for how to deploy these changes to large numbers of Windows 2000 clients/servers: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930688

Microsoft is also offering several on-demand chats to provide guidance for the DST 2007 changes. It can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx

RIT systems administrators that find themselves still supporting Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP SP1 systems can access a working copy of the script from MS KB 914387. Information on where to find the script was previously sent out via the ITS OUTech email list. A copy of that email message is below:

Please be aware that performing the following steps on systems for which the DST patch (933360) is available is NOT recommended. Also, ITS recommends that people reading this message consider upgrading their OS to a supported version of Windows and then applying the 933360 patch (please review the MSKB article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933360 to see what versions of Windows the patch was released for).   Updated

That being said, there are still going to be circumstances where upgrading the client OS is not possible or feasible. For those systems, the only option is following what Microsoft has documented in MSKB 914387 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387).

In the 914387 article MS states that even though they released the 933360 patch for some versions of Windows, the changes outlined in the 914387 article can be made manually on ANY version of Windows (although ITS only recommends this for version of Windows for which there is no 933360 patch).   Updated

For clarity, the only versions of Windows ITS recommends applying the manual patch to are: Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP SP1.

ITS has used the information for the 914387 article to create a registry file, vb script, and Windows command file that should make the appropriate DST 2007 changes.

ITS has only had time for limited testing, but the command file seems to do the trick.

The 3 needed files can be found in the following location:

\\fileshare\GENDIST\DST2007-W2K

The file names and their descriptions:

DST2007Update_Win2k.cmd - Main command file, the only file that needs to be executed.
refreshTZinfo.vbs - VB Script that performs the needed TZ refresh once the registry is updated.
TZUpdate.reg - The actual updated TZ registry data.

To apply the changes, simply copy all 3 files to the local PC (please be sure to keep them in the same folder). Next, double-click the file called "DST2007Update_Win2k.cmd". This will merge the registry changes from "TZUpdate.reg" and execute the "refreshTZinfo.vbs" that refreshes the TZ information for the client.

To verify everything worked, set the local system time to 03/11/2007 1:59:00 AM. The system clock should roll from 1:59 AM to 3:00 AM. If the clock rolls to 2:00 AM instead, the update was NOT successful.

Microsoft Windows server operating systems

Windows workstations are not the only ones that need to be updated - the various server platforms must be updated as well. The Microsoft Knowledge Base article can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933360/   Updated

Versions for the following platforms are currently available:   Updated

RIT Exchange calendaring

Consult the RIT Microsoft Exchange and daylight-saving time changes in 2007 page for collected information related to the Exchange system.

The extended daylight-saving time period is:

To minimize confusion during the extended DST period beginning in March, Microsoft also suggests following these additional steps when working with your RIT Exchange calendar:

In addition, you may want to post an all-day event — repeating each day through the extended daylight-saving time period and marked with the free/busy status of "Free" — to your calendar to remind yourself of the extended daylight-saving time period.