Event ID 142 — Time Service Advertisement

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Windows Time service (W32time) provides time source advertisements that clients can use to synchronize their clocks. The Windows Time service on a domain controller can be configured as either a reliable or an unreliable time source. The Windows Time service running on a client will attempt to synchronize its time source with servers that are indicated as reliable. The Windows Time service can configure a domain controller within its domain as a reliable time source, and it synchronizes itself periodically with this source.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 142
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Time-Service
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: MSG_STOP_ADVERTISING_NOTSYNCED
Message: The time service has stopped advertising as a time source because the local clock is not synchronized.

Resolve

Ensure that the time source is functioning correctly

The local time clock is not synchronized with the time source. This indicates a communication issue with the time source provider. Verify that the computer reporting Event 142 is able to communicate with the configured time source.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To ensure that the computer reporting the event can communicate with its time source:

  1. Open a command prompt as an administrator on the computer logging the event. To open a command prompt as an administrator, click Start. In Start Search, type Command Prompt. At the top of the Start menu, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
  2. Type net time /querysntp to determine the name of the time source for the computer.
  3. Type **w32tm /stripchart /computer:**timesource, and then press ENTER. Substitute the name of the time source computer for timesource in the command. For example, if the time source computer name is server1.contoso.com, type w32tm /stripchart /computer:server1.contoso.com, and then press ENTER. Watch as the time is reported from the time provider, which occurs every other second (in two-second intervals) by default. After a few minutes, evaluate the time report consistency:
    • If time reports are received consistently, the time source is functioning properly.
    • If time reporting is inconsistent, there may be a network issue that is preventing time communications, such as a high volume of traffic or a network card error.
    • If time reports do not appear at all after a few minutes of monitoring, there is probably a configuration or operational issue with the local time client or time source.
  4. To stop the time source query reports, press CTRL and C simultaneously.

For more information about troubleshooting networking issues, see Troubleshooting Tools and Strategies (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=94764).

To review the configuration of the Windows Time service, at the command prompt, type w32tm /query /configuration /verbose, and then press ENTER to see the configuration settings.

To configure a new time source, at the command prompt, type w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:timesourcename, and then press ENTER. Substitute the name of the time source that you want to use, such as time.windows.com, for timesourcename.

To update your Windows Time service configuration, at the command prompt, type w32tm /config /update, and then press ENTER.

Verify

When the Windows Time service is advertising time as a time source, Event ID 139, "The time service has started advertising as a time source," is logged in Event Viewer.

For more information about the Windows Time service, see the Windows Time Service Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=25393).

Time Service Advertisement

Active Directory