How to Change Timezone in Ubuntu?

Several services are offered by a server to the public and private networks that are connected to it. In order for the server to operate effectively, its configuration must be correct. The time zone on Ubuntu is automatically adjusted, although it can be modified at a later time to suit your needs. Ubuntu will synchronize your system with the internet to display the same time as your closest location if you enable it to retrieve the Automatic Time Zone.

Timezone plays a vital role in the transactional IT system, where transparency is important during the audit process. Also, the correct time is required to manage the complex and technical resources on your Ubuntu system. The improperly set timezone hampers logging, automation, and cronjobs.

You might deploy the automatic working software and updating applications. But, a wrong configured time would limit your deploying at the right time. At the same time, the wrong scheduled time will hamper the scheduling of backups and administrative tasks.

How to check the Current Time Zone?

We set the correct timezone in our Linux servers during its configuration.
First of all, you will have to open Terminal via keyboard buttons ‘Ctrl + Alt + T’ pressing together. You can also open your Terminal application through Ubuntu Dash.

Using command line –

1) To check the current time zone of your Ubuntu system, you need to enter the below command line in Terminal.

$ timedatectl

Syntax :

2) The other option available can be done using this command :

hostvento@linux: ~$ ls -l /etc/localtime

And you can see the output as :

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3) Using UI

To view the current time zone using UI, you will need to access the Date & Time Setting in the Settings utility.

Click on Date & Time to view the settings.

Or you can go to Settings-> Details-> Time and Date

Now, let’ see how to change the Time Zone in Ubuntu using command line :

To get the specified timezones, you can enter the following command on your Terminal.

Syntax :

$ timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i [zone]

Let’s take an example :

To get the time zones of Europe we will use this command.

$ timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i europe

We will be setting the time zone to Europe/India, using this example. To do this, first we will have to unlink the system time with local time using following command:

$ sudo unlink /etc/localtime

Now, to set the timezone use the following command:

Syntax :

sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/ [Zone/TimeZone] /etc/local time

For example :

sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/India /etc/localtime

You can also verify the changes setting using one of the following commands:

(A) $ timedatectl

OR

(B) $ ls -l /etc/localtime

Now, let’s see how you can change the timezone using UI

First of all, switch off the Automatic Time Zone button in the Date and Time settings of the Ubuntu Settings Utility.

Now, click Date and Time option in order to change the timezone.

This view allows you to search for a timezone through search bar or by manually moving the cursor to your timezone. As soon as you perform this task, the timezone for your Ubuntu system will get changed.

There you go!
You recently learnt how to modify the Ubuntu system’s timezone. Both the UI and the command lines make this very simple.