Despite an update 'mitigating' the problem, some Windows 11 users seemingly still can't change the date and time in settings—although there is a workaround

Have you been getting your Windows updates? As a chronic "I'll do it later" Windows user, I always tend to hold off for a little too long before going through the painstaking work of waiting ten minutes for an update. Though Windows update 24H2—the most current version of the OS—has fixed many problems, it seems there is still a fairly strange bug where you can't change the date and time of your device in Windows settings.

In the "known issues and notifications" page of the current build, one issue was updated just this week. "Date & Time in Window Settings might not permit users to change time zone" has been an ongoing issue that has since been "mitigated" with a recent bug fix.

This bug fix ensures that, so long as you have admin access to your Windows operating system you're allowed the very special privilege of being able to change your date and time settings.

If you have a Windows account that does not have administrative privileges, however, you may find you still can't change the time zone via Windows Settings. Though, you can at least now change it by accessing the Control Panel in the start menu.

Alternatively, you can open up the Run dialog by pressing the Windows key and R then typing in timedate.cpl. This will open up a date and time menu, allowing you to change the time zone. If you want to change the time to a specific number, you will still need administrator privileges, though.

As Windows update bugs go, this is pretty small fry, and is a fairly small inconvenience that can now be sidestepped, at least. Previous updates have broken mouse and keyboard functionality, trapped users in a boot loop, and left huge 8.63 GB update caches that are impossible to delete.

Going forward, the above page clarifies "Microsoft is actively investigating the issue and will provide a resolution in an upcoming Windows update."

Though we tend to see small updates in Windows all the time, and semi-sporadically, we only get the big named updates around once a year. This bug has not yet been reported on Windows 10, which is another feather in the cap of those who don't want to update—but with Windows 10 losing official support next year, I'd take small bugs like this one over the security risks that come with using an outdated OS.

Windows 11 review: What we think of the latest OS.
How to install Windows 11: Guide to a secure install.
Windows 11 TPM requirement: Strict OS security.