How to Change Time in Kali Linux

Kali Linux is a popular Debian-based Linux distribution used for pen-testing and ethical hacking. It is developed and maintained by an American cybersecurity firm, Offensive Security. Kali Linux comes pre-installed with various tools and software required for penetration testing and ethical hacking, which makes it popular among cybersecurity professionals and enthusiasts.

If you are new to Kali Linux and your distro is showing the wrong time? Or your system clock has a different time zone. Then this article is here to fix that. In this article, we will cover the steps to change time and time zones in Kali Linux using the Graphical user interface and also using the command line. So let’s begin!

How to Change Time in Kali Linux using GUI?

Changing the time and the timezone in Kali Linux is an easy task. Here are the step-by-step procedures to change time in Kali Linux:

Step 1: Open clock settings

To open time settings, right-click on the time in the top bar of the Kali Linux desktop. Then click on the properties from the menu. It will open a new window with settings related to date and time.

Open Properties

Step 2: Select Change time and date

From the clock properties, click on the Time and Date settings as shown in the below image.

Open time and date settings

Step 3: Unlock time editing

Now you can see the window opened up with the Time and Date settings. But the options to change time and timezone are locked. By default, a user cannot change time without root privileges. So to unlock the settings, click on the unlock button on the bottom part of the window. It will ask the user to enter the root password.

Unlock time and date settings

Step 4: Enter the password

Enter the password in the popup asking for the password and click on the “Authenticate” button.

Authenticate with password

Step 5: Set the time

Now all the settings are unlocked and you can set your desired time. You can also set the Time zone and date in the same window.

Change time and date

How to change Time in Kali Linux using the command line?

An alternate way to change time in Kali Linux is using the command line. It takes only a single line command to change the time using the terminal. The following command is used to change time in Kali Linux.

sudo date -s "01 JAN 2024 12:00:00"

Open the terminal in Kali Linux and enter the above command. Don’t forget to change the time to the desired time. Then press ‘Enter’ to execute the command. It will ask the user to enter the sudo password, so enter the password and press “Enter” to set the time.

Change time in Kali Linux using Terminal

That’s how you can set the time in your Kali Linux system.

Change Time in Kali Linux – FAQs

How do I change the system time in Kali Linux?

To change the system time in Kali Linux, you can use the date command followed by the desired time format. For example, to set the time to 10:30 AM on May 6, 2024, you would type:

sudo date --set="2024-05-06 10:30:00"

Can I change the timezone in Kali Linux?

Yes, you can change the timezone in Kali Linux using the timedatectl command. First, list the available timezones with:

timedatectl list-timezones

Then, set the desired timezone using:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone Your/Desired/Timezone

Why does my system time revert after rebooting in Kali Linux?

This issue often occurs when the system clock is not synchronized with a reliable time source. To resolve it, you can configure your system to synchronize time with NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers. Use the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ntp
sudo systemctl enable ntp
sudo systemctl start ntp

Is there a graphical interface to change time settings in Kali Linux?

Yes, Kali Linux includes a graphical tool called “Time and Date” that allows you to change time settings easily. You can access it by clicking on the clock in the system tray and selecting “Time & Date Settings.”

How do I check if my system time is accurate in Kali Linux?

You can verify the accuracy of your system time by comparing it with an online time server. Use the ntpdate command followed by a reliable NTP server’s address. For example:

sudo ntpdate pool.ntp.org

This command synchronizes your system time with the specified NTP server and displays the time difference.

Conclusion

A new Kali Linux user may find it difficult to locate the time settings and change the time. In this article, we discussed two different step-by-step methods to change the time in Kali Linux. I hope the article was helpful and feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments!