Time Zone Change to Alberta Standard Time
Introduction
Alberta has adopted permanent Alberta Time (previously called Mountain Daylight Time, or MDT, in Alberta) to eliminate the previous practice of semi-annual clock changes. This will take effect on Nov. 1, 2026. This transition is causing some issues with Windows operating systems and various software, such as Google Chrome, where times are not showing correctly (for example, emails in Gmail are showing the time as being an hour early).
Until the software is updated, a simple workaround is to temporarily set your computer’s time zone to Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan does not observe daylight savings time and is an established time zone, eliminating the current issue with the new Alberta time zone.
Applicability
This article applies to anyone at the University of Alberta using a Windows computer.
Procedure
Possible issues people might see with this time change:
- My computer's clock is wrong or has gone back an hour
- My computer's time zone says Saskatchewan
- My computer's clock is right, but times in my browser or apps are wrong
- I'm a student or using my own computer, and something shows the wrong time
My computer’s clock is wrong or has gone back an hour
Your next steps depend on whether your computer is domain joined (managed by the university) or standalone (a personal or unmanaged computer).
Step 1: Find out if your computer is domain joined
- If you are logged out already, continue to the next step. If you are signed into your computer, log out as follows:
- Click the Start Menu icon at the bottom of your screen.
- Click the User icon on the left tab of the Start menu
- Click Sign out
- You should now be in the Windows login screen. A domain joined computer will have a login screen that looks like the example below. It will say "Sign in to:" then the domain name.
If your login screen does not show “Sign in to” your computer is likely not part of a domain.
Make note of the domain name that you are logging into, in this example it is STS
Step 2: Follow the instructions for your type of computer:
Domain computer on a campus wired network
- Click the Start Menu, then type gpupdate, then press Enter.
- This will refresh the policy from the domain.
- If your time is still incorrect, please contact the Staff Service Centre for assistance.
Domain-joined computer off campus or on campus connected to Wi-Fi / Eduroam
If you have a domain-joined computer that is off campus or on campus and connected to Wi-Fi there are two ways you can set your computer to the Saskatchewan time zone:
Option 1 (quickest) - Manually set your computer to the Saskatchewan time zone
Option 2 - Connect to the VPN and automatically set your computer to the Saskatchewan time zone
Option 1 (quickest) - Manually set your computer to the Saskatchewan time zone
- Click on the Start Menu.
- Click Settings in the list of apps.
- Click Time & language in the left panel.
- Click Date & time from the list on the right side.
- To the right of Time zone click the dropdown, then click (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan.
-
Important: Change only the time zone. Don’t adjust the clock manually, as that can cause problems later.
- Back on the left side, click Windows Update.
- On the right side, click Check for updates and install the updates that show up (if any). This will ensure the latest updates for your operating system are installed (including the one that enables Alberta time).
- Ensure your preferred web browser is up-to-date:
Option 2 - Connect to the VPN and automatically set your computer to the Saskatchewan time zone
- Connect to the campus VPN using the context appropriate to the domain you are connected to. Please see this KB article for instructions on using the VPN.
- For example, if your computer is on the STS domain, you will need to connect to vpn.ualberta.ca/uanet and login with your CCID and password.
- If you do not know the VPN context you need to connect to please contact the Staff Service Centre for assistance.
- Click the Start Menu, then type gpupdate, then press Enter.
- This will refresh the policy from the domain.
- Leave the computer connected for a couple of hours to make sure it's had time to sync properly with the domain.
- Ensure your preferred web browser is up-to-date:
Standalone computer
- Click on the Start Menu.
- Click Settings in the list of apps.
- Click Time & language in the left panel.
- Click Date & time from the list on the right side.
- To the right of Time zone click the dropdown, then click (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan.
-
Important: Change only the time zone. Don’t adjust the clock manually, as that can cause problems later.
- Back on the left side, click Windows Update.
- On the right side, click Check for updates and install the updates that show up (if any). This will ensure the latest updates for your operating system are installed (including the one that enables Alberta time).
- Ensure your preferred web browser is up-to-date:
My computer's time zone says Saskatchewan
No action needed. This is intentional. Microsoft recommends it as a temporary workaround. Please don’t change your time zone yet. IST will let you know when it’s time to switch back to Alberta time..
My computer's clock is right but times in my browser or apps are wrong
Change your time to Saskatchewan time. Microsoft is currently recommending temporarily changing the time zone to Saskatchewan time as a work-around solution to these and similar time zone related issues.
- Click on the Start Menu.
- Click Settings in the list of apps.
- Click Time & language in the left panel.
- Click Date & time from the list on the right side.
- To the right of Time zone click the dropdown, then click (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan.
-
Important: Change only the time zone. Don’t adjust the clock manually, as that can cause problems later.
- Ensure your preferred web browser is up-to-date:
I'm a student or using my own computer, and something shows the wrong time
Set your computer to the Saskatchewan time zone and update any software that has the incorrect time.
- Click on the Start Menu.
- Click Settings in the list of apps.
- Click Time & language in the left panel.
- Click Date & time from the list on the right side.
- To the right of Time zone click the dropdown, then click (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan.
-
Important: Change only the time zone. Don’t adjust the clock manually, as that can cause problems later.
- Ensure your preferred web browser is up-to-date: