Check the Active Timezone

Check and verify the active timezone before changing the timezone on Ubuntu 24.04 to recover the initial configuration in case of any errors. timedatectl is a built-in utility that lets you view and manage timezones on Ubuntu. Follow the steps below to check the active timezone on your Ubuntu 24.04 workstation.

  1. Check the active timezone and time synchronization status.
    console
    $ timedatectl 
        

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    Output:

                   Local time: Thu 2025-01-08 14:35:22 UTC
           Universal time: Thu 2025-01-08 14:35:22 UTC
                 RTC time: Thu 2025-01-08 14:35:22
                Time zone: Etc/UTC (UTC, +0000)
System clock synchronized: yes
              NTP service: active
          RTC in local TZ: no

    Based on the above output, Etc/UTC UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the active timezone and the primary time standard on Ubuntu. If the active timezone does not match your needs, follow the sections below to find all available time zones and change the timezone.

List Timezones on Ubuntu 24.04

Follow the steps below to list all available timezones on Ubuntu 24.04.

  1. Use the following command to display all available timezones:
    console
    $ timedatectl list-timezones

    Press Space to browse the list of available timezones in your output similar to the one below.

    Africa/Abidjan
Africa/Accra
...................................
America/Adak
America/Anchorage
.........................
Antarctica/Troll
Antarctica/Vostok
Arctic/Longyearbyen
.........................
Asia/Ashgabat
Asia/Atyrau
Asia/Baghdad
..................
  2. Run the following command to filter the output using the grep command to search for a specific timezone or location. For example, Bogota.
    console
    $ timedatectl list-timezones | grep "America"

    

    3. 



Set the Timezone on Ubuntu 24.04


Follow the steps below to set the timezone on your Ubuntu 24.04 workstation.


    

  1. Use the set-timezone option to specify a timezone to change on your system.

    

    console
    

    

    

    $ sudo timedatectl set-timezone YOUR_TIMEZONE

    

    

    

    

    For example, run the following command to set the timezone to America/Bogota.
    

    

    console
    

    

    

    $ sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Puerto_Rico 
        

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    2. 

  2. View the active timezone information and verify that the new change is applied.

    

    console
    

    

    

    $ timedatectl

    

    

    

    

    Output:
    

                   Local time: Sun 2025-01-12 22:19:15 -05
           Universal time: Mon 2025-01-13 03:19:15 UTC
                 RTC time: Mon 2025-01-13 03:19:15
                Time zone: America/Bogota (-05, -0500)
System clock synchronized: yes
              NTP service: active
          RTC in local TZ: no
    

    Based on the above output, the active timezone is America/Puerto_rico.
    3.