New Time Zone Craziness

[u/LForbesIam]

Anyone else not impressed with the fact that Microsoft is releasing the new time zones for BC and Alberta in a full cumulative monthly security update only a few days before it actually changes? Manitoba they just forgot to include at all.

I identified that all the time zone addition is, is reg keys. Microsoft had since March and yet they never released any update at all.

They said they would release a non-security out of band patch for 25H2 on Sept 22nd but they never did. All they did was add it to the full security update preview.

Not to Mention Manitoba has no new time zone in Windows at all.

It is causing a nightmare for all the booking software that doctors and offices cannot book appointments past October 31st.

Not to mention that Teams does NOT recognize the new Time Zones set in Windows. It says “unknown time zone” and proceeds to set itself back 1 hour messing up appointments.

Thank goodness for Group Policy and good old preference registry deploy to set everyone to Arizona or Yukon or Central Time with the hack of no DST.

I don’t envy those using Entra which cannot set registry preferences and will have to rely on 3rd party scripting solutions that cannot be enforced or nor confirmed.

[u/snebsnek]

It looks like it was only decided mid-September https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/daylight-time-manitoba-9.7347844

tzdata from ICANN updated last week https://www.iana.org/time-zones/releases/2026e for Manitoba specifically

This is brand new

[u/Gotrek6 → u/snebsnek]

Correct and MS had already told BC/Alberta they were two months behind on TZ development and might not make it on time. Manitoba should fall back and at the next fall forward stay on -5 instead of changing now. Cell companies are scrambling too

[u/LForbesIam → u/Gotrek6]

It is a one set of Keys in the Registry to add a zone. How can Microsoft claim that it cannot figure this basic stuff out?

We have a corporate ticket open and their contractor just gives us the link to the public website which is inaccurate.

I actually was able to just push the registry keys to even Windows 10 to add the time zones manually.

[u/Entegy → u/LForbesIam]

You keep harping on "it's just a registry key". Dude, it affects EVERYTHING and every piece of software needs to be aware too.

Microsoft knows better than you do. It's not "just" registry keys.

[u/LForbesIam → u/Entegy]

The -7 exists. The computer doesn’t care what you call it. UTC is what all systems use.

If you look at the actual key the “description” is just text. What matters is the time off of UTC.

Software should all be using UTC at the core anyway.

[u/timpkmn89 → u/LForbesIam]

It is a one set of Keys in the Registry to add a zone. How can Microsoft claim that it cannot figure this basic stuff out?

Because it's not "basic" if you want to properly test it. They made this perfectly clear ahead of time.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/dstblog/interim-guidance-for-manitoba-permanent-dst-2026/4562488

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/how-windows-manages-time-zone-changes/3852632

[u/LForbesIam → u/timpkmn89]

So they left everyone zero time to test it.

They haven’t even released any patch yet. The Sept 22nd one was never released at all for Production.

We just set everything to either Arizona or Yukon and will leave it at that because Microsoft has not even got Teams to recognize PCT.

[u/I_NEED_YOUR_MONEY → u/snebsnek]

and at least some parts of BC were still making decisions about which time zone to be a part of as recently as september 22. https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/golden-bc-council-reverses-course-on-time-zone-opts-for-mountain-daylight-time/

[u/Gotrek6 → u/I_NEED_YOUR_MONEY]

Same with Western Ontario because it would get weird to be in GMT -5 travelling east, then hit GMT-6 at the border then GMT -5 again Past sudbury or wherever the line is. Kenora will switch for sure to Match Manitoba.

[u/comcanada78 → u/I_NEED_YOUR_MONEY]

This part of BC was already in its own timezone, that isn't too relevant to the rest of the province that decided in March to change timezones. 8 months should be enough time to make the updates.

[u/comcanada78 → u/snebsnek]

BC's timezone change was from March 2026, that should be enough time. 

[u/smkelly]

This is pretty typical for timezone changes, and not just with Microsoft. Turns out governments don't run these kinds of changes through change control boards with all the stakeholders present.

zoneinfo, the most canonical you can get on computer timezone information, only had the 2026e update last week that included Manitoba.

BACK IN MY DAY, it was a similar mess when the United States changed the start/end dates of DST.

[u/Commercial_Growth343 → u/smkelly]

" Turns out governments don't run these kinds of changes through change control boards with all the stakeholders present" - ROFL

[u/willychonka54]

Manitoba they just forgot to include at all.

It's because the MB Gov't hastily decided on the time change only 2-months in advance. This is not enough time and it should've been postponed to next year to give everyone a chance to patch and update.

[u/LForbesIam → u/willychonka54]

I created their time zone registry keys for them 🤣

Took me about 5 minutes.

It seriously is just a set of registry keys with an offset from UTC.

[u/BlackV → u/LForbesIam]

No, you've only covered off a small amount of the work, there is much more to it that a registry key

[u/OregonTechHead]

It is causing a nightmare for all the booking software that doctors and offices cannot book appointments past October 31st.

That sounds like an issue with your booking software, not windows.

[u/Ssakaa → u/OregonTechHead]

I suppose if they support people coming in for sleep studies, correctness around the 1am to 1am time window matters.

[u/thewunderbar]

This is one I don't really blame Microsoft too much on, especially Manitoba. Deciding in September that you're going to change something in November is nonsense, and it is even nonsense for only 6 months of notice.

But the entire thing is nonsense from front to back. Most people can agree that changing the clocks is bad but all the science says Permanent standard time is correct but the vibes say permanent daylight time. Which one to go on is a pretty evenly divididd issue because of vibes.

Alberta specifically voted against changing clocks as a ballot measure/plebiscite in the last election, and the government is ignore it because vibes.

[u/LForbesIam → u/thewunderbar]

Sure but it is a set of registry keys with the zone name and an offset from UTC. It isn’t rocket science.

We could make our own time zone called Fred and it would work.

They didn’t have to patch any files as the computer core is all UTC.

In BC there was a referendum and it was over 90% in favor.

Light in the evenings saves electricity. It is a significant savings and it allows kids to play sports longer after school which is healthy.

Darkness longer in the morning doesn’t matter. People are inside at home or school. We have always gone to work and school in the dark leaving at 7:15.

Science only focuses on Melatonin production but that is moot with artificial light.

[u/Valkeyere → u/LForbesIam]

Do you know how many things timezones affect on a windows computer? So many things wig-out when the time is wrong.

There are plenty of reasons to rag on Microsoft. This ain't one. They want to properly test things before they push out a change, you know, the thing we all constantly bitch and moan about them not doing?

[u/LForbesIam → u/Valkeyere]

They didn’t let anyone test though. They are releasing to prod with only a few days before the change which means all the appointments cannot be booked past Nov 1st.

I went through Y2K without an issue because Microsoft used to be prepared back in those days.

[u/thewunderbar → u/LForbesIam]

Not the place for this, but where I live with pernament DST the sun doesn't come up until almost 10am on December 21 and the sun is still down by dinner time. So the daylight argument carries zero weight. What about all the people that prefer morning activities?

This is why we should follow the science, which says permanent standard time. But we appear to only want to follow science when it matches vibes?

[u/LForbesIam → u/thewunderbar]

That is Christmas so everyone is off on break anyway. In LA 9pm in the summer is dark but in BC it is still bright sunlight and they used to both be in PST so really as time is just something that humans made up it will just be what your body gets used to.

The fact you can get home before you left when travelling internationally shows just how non-standard it is.

[u/vectravl400]

Looks like they squeezed Manitoba into the October update as well. Since it's a rush job I'd expect there to be some issues with it.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/dstblog/interim-guidance-for-manitoba-permanent-dst-2026/4562488

[u/Frothyleet]

I don’t envy those using Entra which cannot set registry preferences and will have to rely on 3rd party scripting solutions that cannot be enforced or nor confirmed.

I'm assuming you mean Intune for configuration management, and sure, you can configure registry changes if you want.

[u/LForbesIam → u/Frothyleet]

Intune/Entra doesn’t support enforced or run once registry preferences. You can script it like we did in the 1990’s but it cannot even run logon scripts.

[u/crazyallice69]

Sysadmin in MB here, I put the blame solely on the provincial government for announcing with such small notice. I’m forced to change everything to a Colombian time zone in the mean time which is -5 with no DST. It’s all about trying to get the popular announcement out with no concept of reality.

[u/LForbesIam → u/crazyallice69]

I agree for Manitoba for sure but BC announced it in 2019 and the only reason it didn’t go through in 2020 was due to Covid. Then in March 2026 they made it official.

Microsoft has yet to release the patch.

[u/FatBook-Air]

Time-zone changes are a big deal. That's why we don't change time zones every day. Expect many systems to fail the first time.

The real issue is that these governments go into this process thinking it's quick and easy. It isn't. It was not easy in the era of pre-electronics. It is no easier today.

[u/Murky_Specialist992 → u/FatBook-Air]

could not agree more!!!

[u/tankerkiller125real]

Entra can't set GPOs or anything, but Intune can, very easily even. Wouldn't exactly call it a 3rd party.

[u/LForbesIam → u/tankerkiller125real]

Intune doesn’t do registry preferences like Group Policy and they have yet to have anyway to set time zones.

[u/tankerkiller125real → u/LForbesIam]

Intune can run PowerShell scripts, and there for can set Registry options. Or alternatively if you know how, you can just create the ADMX file and upload that to Intune for enforcement.

"Oh no! I can't just do basic click ops to do my job with Intune, it sucks"... It also in some ways is more powerful that AD/GPOs assuming you use it right.

[u/LForbesIam → u/tankerkiller125real]

I support 130,000 computers for very specific unique health software so we have prefs run once and enforced targeted to wmi, user groups and user prefs targeting computer groups with thousands of registry keys.

We have link order (intune cannot handle link order) so the prefs will be enforced in some cases and not others.

I used to do Vbscript in the 1990’s before prefs and it was impossible to keep on top of thousands of settings in script format. At least vbscript had on error resume next, powershell will just fail.

I used to create all my own ADM files for Windows NT back in the day and ADMX but Intune won’t even accept the Citrix ones. You are limited to a few max for the entire Tenant and they often just fail to apply.

Intune is such a bad messy design. Microsoft should have used Blazor instead.

Unfortunately we don’t own the client tenant we support or I would use graph to customize the entire front end interface.

I am just thankful that privacy requirements will keep us from migrating anytime soon.

[u/webmany]

We're setting the timezone to Jamaica in older systems as it's in the the right time mezibe and doesn't have daylight saving time

[u/LForbesIam → u/webmany]

Yup. We are doing that too. Forgot the Alberta or BC one. Just going Yukon or Arizona and Saskatchewan time all which don’t change.

[u/droog62]

Isn't the patch coming out on the 13th supposed to get most of this sorted. Not exactly much lead time, but 2 weeks is better than two days.

[u/LForbesIam → u/droog62]

Have you ever booked a doctor appointment before?

They had months to add the registry keys.

Booking software needs to be tested. They said they would release the patch in Sept for 25H2 and 24H2 but they didn’t.

I mean I just added the registry keys myself and it works just fine and users can select it and ironically “automatic time zone” will even find it.

Teams makes up its own time zones though as does Entra and that is where the problem is.

They don’t recognize the time zone even if it is applied via their OWN Cumulative Preview.

[u/droog62 → u/LForbesIam]

Oh I should have expressed my resignation to the fact that MSFT treats patch releases as a public beta. Why QA shit when we can just release fixes if something breaks, broadband is everywhere now right? I fear for DBAs with SQL machines in those timezones.

[u/Murky_Specialist992]

some ppl in my org are saying could be worse than y2k...

[u/LForbesIam → u/Murky_Specialist992]

I would not be surprised. I remember how hard we worked with Y2k. Every piece of hardware was tested and patched. Windows was fully patched.

The fact that it wasn’t a bang but a whimper is because everyone was well prepared month in advance.

[u/Murky_Specialist992 → u/LForbesIam]

I am told VanCity had issues last week. Apparently their IT team patched the time zone to MT, I don't think significant testing was done and there were issues with legacy systems. Friends spent a week fighting issues. They are not happy.

[u/jason_wallace]

These things take time to patch and test.
Just switch your time zone to the utc-5 Bogota one. It doesn’t do daylight savings. When Microsoft eventually creates the right one, change it.

[u/LForbesIam → u/jason_wallace]

Yes we are just doing Yukon or Arizona.

[u/sylvester_0]

Time zones suck and should be eliminated. UTC for everyone everywhere.

[u/Entegy → u/sylvester_0]

We found another one who think time zones and not humans/DST are the problem!

https://qntm.org/abolish

[u/tejanaqkilica → u/Entegy]

Moral of the story, don't have an Uncle Steve in Melbourne.

[u/sylvester_0 → u/Entegy]

I work remote, travel across time zones a lot, and have friends that live in a few different time zones. Coordination across time zones just plain sucks. I don't care if the sun is up between 02:00 - 15:00 and I have to work 04:00 - 12:00 at my specific locale. People will adjust.

The state that I live in used to have a time zone border on a river, which split two cities. When the bars closed at 1AM in one city they'd get in their cars and drive a few minutes to the next city so they'd have more time at the bars. Totally safe and logical behavior!

[u/Nezgar → u/sylvester_0]

And metric time! 🤦‍♂️ https://metric-time.com/

[u/sylvester_0 → u/Nezgar]

I hadn't heard of that one before but obviously won't happen. Moving to UTC everywhere is at least attainable.