DCDiag reports “not advertising as time server”

  • Article

Just a quick post.

Was onsite recently and had a DC that was not advertising is a time server. DCDiag confirmed it.

Checked announceflags and it was set to 10 in hex (0x00000010) instead of 10 in decimal (0x0000000A).

Changed registry value and use “w32tm /config /update” and all was well. Interestingly it appears to only read last value. So even he (0x0000001A) also works and advertises as time server. Presumably because it reads the last character “A” and thinks

A = 10 = (0x8) + (0x2)

and as per https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773263(WS.10).aspx#w2k3tr_times_tools_uhlp 

AnnounceFlags
Registry path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config

Version

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008

This entry controls whether this computer is marked as a reliable time server. A computer is not marked as reliable unless it is also marked as a time server.

  • 0x00 Not a time server
  • 0x01 Always time server
  • 0x02 Automatic time server
  • 0x04 Always reliable time server
  • 0x08 Automatic reliable time server

The default value for domain members is 10. The default value for stand-alone clients and servers is 10.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 09, 2010
    Never worked for me on additional domain controller with no FSMO roles. Checked original domain controller and AnnounceFlags set to 5. (See above for the settings) Set additional domain controller to decimal 5. w32tm /config /update Restarted time service and bingo. Hope this helps

  • Anonymous
    November 19, 2014
    The above fix worked for me.

    Setting the AnnounceFlags to 5, running w32tm /config /update and then restarting Windows Time fixes the issue

  • Anonymous
    May 19, 2015
    It worked for me too ... change AnnounceFlags to 5, running w32tm /config /update and then restarting Windows Time. Thanks

  • Anonymous
    May 26, 2015
    Yes!!! Thanks brother, decimal 5 fixes!!

  • Anonymous
    December 02, 2015
    6 years old article and still applicable!! Decimal 5 works great!!

  • Anonymous
    December 21, 2015
    Thanks a lot works for me too

  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2016
    Works great, thanks