It happens that sometimes you might have set the wrong time zone or forgot to set the right time zone at the time of installing Ubuntu or Linux Mint.
In this post, we will help you to change the time zone in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
Change Time Zone In Ubuntu & Linux Mint
We can change timezone in two ways,
1. Using /etc/localtime File
In this method, we will use /etc/localtime (link of original timezone) file to set the timezone for your system. This method will work on all Ubuntu and LinuxMint versions, including old ones.
Check the current time zone using the date command.
date
Output:
Tue Dec 3 09:29:00 UTC 2019
You can see that my system has been configured with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
As I said earlier, /etc/localtime is a link to the original time zone file. You can check the symbolic link using the following command.
ls -al /etc/localtime
Output:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Dec 3 09:28 /etc/localtime -> ../usr/share/zoneinfo/UTC
The /usr/share/zoneinfo/ directory contains all the timezones. Beneath that you can find some directories specific to country or zone. Example: /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/ directory contains only American timezones.
ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/
Output:
Adak Campo_Grande Eirunepe Iqaluit Merida Porto_Acre St_Johns Anchorage Cancun El_Salvador Jamaica Metlakatla Port_of_Spain St_Kitts Anguilla Caracas Ensenada Jujuy Mexico_City Porto_Velho St_Lucia Antigua Catamarca Fortaleza Juneau Miquelon Puerto_Rico St_Thomas Araguaina Cayenne Fort_Nelson Kentucky Moncton Punta_Arenas St_Vincent Argentina Cayman Fort_Wayne Knox_IN Monterrey Rainy_River Swift_Current Aruba Chicago Glace_Bay Kralendijk Montevideo Rankin_Inlet Tegucigalpa Asuncion Chihuahua Godthab La_Paz Montreal Recife Thule Atikokan Coral_Harbour Goose_Bay Lima Montserrat Regina Thunder_Bay Atka Cordoba Grand_Turk Los_Angeles Nassau Resolute Tijuana Bahia Costa_Rica Grenada Louisville New_York Rio_Branco Toronto Bahia_Banderas Creston Guadeloupe Lower_Princes Nipigon Rosario Tortola Barbados Cuiaba Guatemala Maceio Nome Santa_Isabel Vancouver Belem Curacao Guayaquil Managua Noronha Santarem Virgin Belize Danmarkshavn Guyana Manaus North_Dakota Santiago Whitehorse Blanc-Sablon Dawson Halifax Marigot Ojinaga Santo_Domingo Winnipeg Boa_Vista Dawson_Creek Havana Martinique Panama Sao_Paulo Yakutat Bogota Denver Hermosillo Matamoros Pangnirtung Scoresbysund Yellowknife Boise Detroit Indiana Mazatlan Paramaribo Shiprock Buenos_Aires Dominica Indianapolis Mendoza Phoenix Sitka Cambridge_Bay Edmonton Inuvik Menominee Port-au-Prince St_Barthelemy
Now, create a link with the desired timezone. In my case, it is the Eastern Standard Time (EST) timezone.
Link either the city file or the zone with /etc/localtime file.
sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Eastern /etc/localtime
OR
sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
Verify the timezone using the date command.
date
Output:
Tue Dec 3 04:30:10 EST 2019
2. Using timedatectl Command
In this method, we will use the timedatectl command to change the timezone in Ubuntu and Linux Mint. This method will only work on the latest versions of Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
Let us check the current time zone using the date command.
date
Output:
Sun Oct 22 15:00:19 UTC 2017
You can see that my system has been configured with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Use the following command to list all time zones.
sudo timedatectl list-timezones
Output:
Africa/Abidjan Africa/Accra Africa/Addis_Ababa Africa/Algiers Africa/Asmara . . . . . . Pacific/Pohnpei Pacific/Port_Moresby Pacific/Rarotonga Pacific/Saipan Pacific/Tahiti Pacific/Tarawa Pacific/Tongatapu Pacific/Wake Pacific/Wallis UTC
You can filter the output using grep for the city near to you or the continent.
sudo timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i new
OR
sudo timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i america
Output:
America/New_York
America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
Set the timezone using the following command.
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York
Verify the new timezone using the date command.
date
Output:
Tue Dec 3 04:31:28 EST 2019
Conclusion
That’s All. Please share your feedback in the comments section.
