Synchronizing system time, Kubuntu/Windows dual boot

[CAaronL]

I'd love to be able to get rid of my Windows installation altogether, but for now, due to the needs of my business, I have to keep an up-to-date Windows installation on my primary office PC. I use Kubuntu as my primary operating system, but I do have to boot into Windows 8 occasionally, located on a different partition on my hard drive.

I'm looking for a way to be able to synchronize the system time between Windows 8 and Kubuntu. I just want the computer to show the correct time when the OS (whichever it is) first boots up, without having to correct the time manually. I know that Windows reads the BIOS time as the local time zone, whereas Linux reads the BIOS time as UTC, and then adjusts it to the local time zone.

I've tried to figure out how to have Kubuntu behave like Windows and just read the BIOS time as the local time, but so far, I haven't had luck getting that to happen. I also found a registry hack for Windows that was supposed to have Windows read the BIOS time like Linux does, as UTC, but that didn't work either.

There have to be people out there who are doing this successfully with a Windows/Linux dual-boot situation! I don't really care how I accomplish it, whether I'm making changes to Windows time settings or Kubuntu time settings, but I really need to find a solution.

Thanks!

[oshunluvr]

http://askubuntu.com/questions/16937...off-by-4-hours

[CAaronL]

Thank you, oshunluvr, but ...

I actually had previously found that forum post. The Windows registry hack that I referred to is the one detailed there. Perhaps it worked in Windows 7, but making that change to the registry in Windows 8 has no effect at all.

Likewise, I tried following the instructions in the Make Linux use 'Local' time section of that post (editing /etc/default/rcS), and that didn't have any effect on the way Kubuntu kept track of the time, either.

Still looking for an answer.

[SteveRiley]

I'm seeing some reports of RealTimeIsUniversal not working well in Windows 8. My suggestion: set your Windows clock to GMT. Then get in the habit of mentally calculating the offset. Or, you could do away with dual boot and run Windows inside a virtual machine using VMware Player or VirtualBox.

[CAaronL]

There *has* to be a solution more elegant than that, right? I really do need a full-fledged Windows installation, rather than running it as a virtual machine, and because of a specific issue dealing with time stamps on files, I do need both Windows and Kubuntu to natively know what time it really is. :-(

[SteveRiley]

If a regression has entered into Windows 8, and if Microsoft has little incentive to fix it, then you may not have many options.

I'm surprised that your attempt to make Kubuntu keep the local time in the BIOS is having problems. This is the well-documented method for all *buntu flavors. What steps did you follow to try to make it work?