Microsoft Daylight Saving Time & Time Zone Blog : bulletin

Daylight saving time ends this weekend, November 2, in much of North America (posted October 30, 2008)

atsim — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:01:00 GMT

Daylight saving time ends this weekend in much of North America. The US Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced changes to the start and end dates of DST beginning in 2007. Now, DST in North America is observed across most of the United States as well as Canada from the second Sunday in March through to the first Sunday in November. In 2008, DST generally ends at 2:00AM local time on Sunday, November 2. This results in a new DST period that is approximately three to four weeks longer than in previous years.

Please note that some parts of Canada and the United States do not observe DST, instead they remain on standard time throughout the year. This includes Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Saskatchewan, and parts of northern British Columbia.

Advisory: Potential changes to Daylight Saving Time in Iraq

atsim — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:27:00 GMT

Microsoft has learned of a potential change to the observance of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in Iraq that may impact customers using the Baghdad time zone.

An early, unsubstantiated report is that the Ministry of Iraq has decided that the country will no longer observe DST as they have in prior years, currently scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2008.

Thus far, Microsoft has not been able to officially verify this change: if the change to the implementation of DST in the country is made, this may impact customers and partners in the region who use the Baghdad time zone, including military facilities and other entities engaged in business in or with the region.

Microsoft is actively working with government representatives and customers in the region to confirm the change in Iraq, while also endeavoring to understand and document the scenarios and implications.

Specific guidance will be provided as it becomes available on the Microsoft DST & TZ Hot Topics page off of http://www.microsoft.com/time. For details on setting up RSS feeds for these pages, see this post on setting up RSS feeds.

(Cross posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/mthree/archive/2008/03/15/iraq-dst-031508.aspx)

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST. 3,530,000; 6,950,000; 649,000+

Chile announces an extension on their Daylight Saving Time for 2008

atsim — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:26:00 GMT

The government of Chile announced on February 7, 2008, that their current daylight saving time will be extended in order to save energy. The new fall back date for the daylight saving period of 2007-2008 is:

Daylight saving time ends: Last Saturday of March at 11:59:59PM

Information is available via our Chilean web site at http://www.microsoft.com/chile/cambiodehora, "Extension del horario de Verano en Chile". Customers and partners will find additional information on this change and manual remediation at http://blogs.technet.com/latam/archive/tags/DST/default.aspx:

The default configuration for the time zone “(GMT-04:00) Santiago” in Windows Operating Systems does not reflect the new final date for the daylight saving time defined by the government. This bulletin summarizes the actions recommended for customers in Chile to address the extension of daylight saving time and mitigate its impacts.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST.

Daylight Saving Time Begins Sunday, March 9, in the US and Canada

atsim — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:20:00 GMT

[cross posted to http://blogs.msdn.com/mthree/archive/2008/03/07/dst-arrives-030708.aspx]

Daylight Saving Time begins in much of the US and Canada this weekend, as noted in more than 2,200 news articles today on March 9, several weeks earlier than in years prior to 2007. As you may recall, last year the US and Canada "sprang forward" a few weeks earlier than in past years in accordance with the US Department of Energy's Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was passed into law. DST will end later than usual, on the first Sunday of November (in 2008, November 2); more details on the new DST start and end times can be found here). This results in a new DST period that is approximately three to four weeks longer than in previous years.

So what should you do to make sure that your computers are ready for the change?

If you use Microsoft Update on your PC at home, chances are you're already covered. The December Cumulative 2008 Daylight Saving Time and Time Zone Update for Windows should already be installed on your PC. If you're not sure, visit Microsoft Windows Update to check your PC and install important updates.

At work, if an IT Pro (aka 'hero') manages your network, chances are good that the needed updates have already been installed on your computers and devices already.

If you manage servers and a host of Microsoft software, visit http://www.microsoft.com/time for more details. And visit the support web sites of any other software companies to see if you need to apply any updates - it's not just Microsoft software that may require updates. Keep in mind that it's not just the US and Canada that made changes to DST and time zones: we have an upcoming change in Australia and others noted on the DST and Time Zone Hot Topics page. (You can enable tracking for the Microsoft DST and time zone web pages (or any web page) via RSS feed using free, third party services like page2rss, feedity, feedyes and other services.)

In Australia, there are changes to Eastern & Central zones. Australia Eastern (New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania) and Central (South Australia) time zones will extend daylight saving and also harmonize start and end times commencing April 2008. From April 2008, daylight saving will end on the first Sunday in April and recommence on the first Sunday in October in all states. See the Australian Government Time web site for more information.

For a summary of the status of product updates, we recommend that customers review the information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/bb887637.aspx. In most cases, customer will find that these changes have been addressed when the latest cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems was applied (released December, 2007, as noted at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942763). Some of the updates are not specific to the Australia Eastern and Central changes and can be applied immediately; other products (for example Office Groove) require manual adjustment after application of the time zone update to the host Windows operating system.

And remember: time is a precious thing. Never waste it.

Of interest, these top news articles for daylight saving time...

Daylight saving time: a hands-off experience (Minneapolis Star)
Time Out of Mind (New York Times)
Daylight saving time costs nation costs nation $1.7 billion (Morning Call)
Daylight-saving not good for cows (San Francisco Gate)
Research Sheds Light on Saving Time, Resources… (Daily Nexus)
Daylight saving time may not save much… (Everett Herald)

[update 2:40PM] And thanks to Mary Jo for mentioning this post on her blog to increase awareness.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST. 3,530,000 (down a million items); 6,950,000; 649,000+

Argentina is changing their daylight saving time on December 30

atsim — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:40:00 GMT

(cross posted from this blog entry)

This past week, the government of Argentina approved a new change to their observance of daylight saving time in the country effective this Sunday, December 30, 2007 at 12:00am to March 16th, 12:00 for Argentina.

According to Reuters, "under the new law, which both houses of Congress passed the same day, the time in Argentina will jump forward an hour starting on Sunday. The clocks will turn back on March 16." Information is also available via our Argentinean web site at http://www.microsoft.com/argentina/dst.

Currently Argentina is using GMT-3, with this change we will be using GMT-2. This fast-tracked change came with little advance notice and little reason for a fast implementation. Many of our customers are in a so-called "freeze period" where they do not make any changes or deploy any updates to their networks or systems.

Possible changes: Some customers may select to manually move their own users and systems to an appropriate time zone (such as the Mid-Atlantic TZ) on December 30 and move clocks back to Buenos Aires (GMT -3) on March 16. Other customers may wish to follow the guidance below for manually changing the registry. (See the section below for considerations of these changes.)

In addition to Microsoft products, other software, OS releases and hardware (phones, routers, switches and managed devices) may require updates/ changes.

Upcoming Daylight Saving Time implementation for Argentina in 2007-2008

The steps provided in this bulletin were created to mitigate the impacts that the daylight saving time implementation will cause for customers in Argentina. These are the impacts primarily anticipated at the time this document was written, and the effects that customers may face are not restricted to them.

The suggested actions on this bulletin might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by the DST changes in Argentina, we recommend that you wait for the next DST cumulative update that will likely contain the updates for Argentina.

This bulletin contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs.

The information described in this document may change without notice. In addition, customers should be aware that further guidance will be provided at any time by Microsoft.

Background – implementation of Daylight Saving Time for Argentina in 2007-2008

The government of Argentina has announced the implementation of daylight saving time (DST) in Argentina. The following are the start and end dates for the daylight saving time defined:

Daylight saving time begins: Sunday, December 30^th, 2007 at 00:00 A.M local standard time.
Daylight saving time ends: Sunday, March 16^th, 2008 at 00:00 A.M local daylight saving time.

Currently, computers in Argentina use the “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” time zone setting. However, the default values for the “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” time zone setting in Microsoft Windows do not reflect the daylight saving time start and end dates defined by the government.

This bulletin summarizes the actions recommended for customers in Argentina to address the implementation of daylight saving time and mitigate its impacts.

General recommendations for customers in Argentina

1. In order to update Windows PC operating systems, we recommend administrators to create a new time zone to reflect the DST implementation in Argentina. Please read the section “How to update Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems” for details on the recommended steps.

2. Please note that if you adjust the machine’s clock manually, you may have adverse effects on your environment.

3. Before you apply the changes on Windows Operating Systems to reflect the DST dates in Argentina, be aware of potential issues that will affect Microsoft Office Outlook and Exchange Server. Read “Impacts for Outlook and OWA Clients” sections for more details.

4. Contact Microsoft Support prior to any modification if you are unsure about the steps to follow in order to be prepared for the DST implementation in Argentina.

How to update Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems

This session is based on the following article:

914387 - How to configure daylight saving time for Microsoft Windows operating systems

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;914387

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

There is no hotfix available at this time to update Windows Operating Systems with the DST dates for Argentina.
The current version of KB 914387 does not contain information about the new DST settings for Argentina.
The recommendation at this time is to create a new time zone to reflect the DST dates defined by the Argentina government. To do so, please proceed as follows:

Updating Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems

1. Create a registry file that will contain a new time zone for Argentina, following these steps:

1.1. Click Start, click Run, type notepad, and then click OK.

1.2. Copy the following registry information, and then paste it into the Notepad document:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones\Argentina Standard Time]

"Display"="(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires"

"Dlt"="Argentina Daylight Time"

"Std"="Argentina Standard Time"

"TZI"=hex:b4,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,03,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,\

00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0c,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones\Argentina Standard Time\Dynamic DST]

"FirstEntry"=dword:000007d6

"LastEntry"=dword:000007d8

"2008"=hex:b4,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,03,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,\

00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0c,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

"2007"=hex:b4,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,01,00,01,00,01,00,00,00,00,\

00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0c,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

"2006"=hex:b4,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\

00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones\SA Eastern Standard Time]

"Display"="(GMT-03:00) Georgetown"

1.3. On the File menu, click Save As.

1.4. Select a destination, and then type TZupdate.reg in the File name box.

1.5. In the Save as type box, click All Files, and then click Save.

2. Import this registry key on target machines by double clicking in the TZupdate.reg and clicking ‘Yes’ when prompted. All machines (clients and servers) must be updated with this registry information.

2.1. After importing the registry key, the time zone “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” will be renamed to “(GMT-03:00) Georgetown”.

“(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” becomes “(GMT -03:00) Georgetown”

2.2. A new time zone named “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” will be created.

New time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” – it contains the DST dates for Argentina

2.3. Users located in Argentina will need to change the time zone from “(GMT -03:00) Georgetown” to the new “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires” time zone.

2.4. Note that on the new time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” the option “Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” is selected by default. Users should not uncheck this option.

3. In order to deploy these time zone changes in a corporate environment, you can use a startup script as described in the session “Deploy the registry file with the new DST information using Group Policy” below.

Deploying the registry file with the new DST information using Group Policy

1. Click Start, click Run, type notepad, and then press ENTER.

2. Copy the following code, and then paste it into the Notepad document.

@echo off

regedit /s \\contoso.com\NETLOGON\TZupdate.reg

Note: You must replace the \\contoso.com notation above with the actual DNS domain name for your Active Directory domain.

3. On the File menu, click Save As.

4. DST2007Update.cmd in the File name box.

5. In the Save as type box, click All Files, and then click Save.

6. Copy the following files to the Netlogon share folder of the domain controller that holds the PDC emulator role in the domain:
- TZupdate.reg
- DST2007Update.cmd

7. Wait until Active Directory replication occurs. Also, wait until the files and folders in the system volume (SYSVOL) shared folder replicate to domain controllers in the domain.

8. Click Start, click Run, type control admintools, and then click OK.

9. Double-click Active Directory Users and Computers.

10. Select an Organizational Unit (OU) which contains the computers that you want to apply this script to. In this example, we will use an OU that is named DST2007-W2K. This example also assumes that this OU contains computer accounts.

11. Right-click the DST2007-W2K OU and then click Properties.

12. Click the Group Policy tab, click New, type DST Registry Update, and then press ENTER.

13. Click Edit. The Group Policy Object Editor tool starts.

14. Expand Computer Configuration, expand Windows Settings, and then click Scripts (Startup/Shutdown).

15. Double-click Startup, and then click Add.

16. In the Script Name box, type the universal naming convention (UNC) path of the DST2007Update.cmd file that is located in the Netlogon share. For example, type \\contoso.com\NETLOGON\DST2007Update.cmd.

17. Click OK two times.

Note: Client computers that are within the DST2007-W2K organizational unit will run the startup script the next time the machine starts up. This will make the system to recognize the existence of the new “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” time zone, however you still need to move to the new time zone that was just created. Please read the section ‘Changing the computer time zone via startup script’ for information on how to automatically change the time zone using a group policy.

Changing the computer time zone via startup script

1. Click Start, click Run, type notepad, and then press ENTER.

2. Copy the following lines, and then paste it into the Notepad document.

@echo off

ver |find /i "6.0">nul

IF %errorlevel% EQU 0 GOTO end

control.exe timedate.cpl,,/Z Argentina Standard Time

:end

3. On the File menu, click Save As.

4. Select a destination, and then type ChangeTZ.cmd in the File name box.

5. In the Save as type box, click All Files, and then click Save.

6. Copy the file to the Netlogon share folder of the domain controller that holds the PDC emulator role in the domain.

7. Wait until Active Directory replication occurs. Also, wait until the files and folders in the system volume (SYSVOL) shared folder replicate to domain controllers in the domain.

8. Click Start, click Run, type control admintools, and then click OK.

9. Double-click Active Directory Users and Computers.

10. Select an OU that contains the computers that you want to apply this script to. In this example, we will use an OU that is named DST2007-W2K. This example also assumes that this OU contains all computer accounts.

11. Right-click the DST2007-W2K, and then click Properties.

12. Click the Group Policy tab, click New, type DST Time Zone Change, and then press ENTER.

13. Click Edit. The Group Policy Object Editor tool starts.

14. Expand Computer Configuration, expand Windows Settings, and then click Scripts (Startup/Shutdown).

15. Double-click Startup, and then click Add.

16. In the Script Name box, type the universal naming convention (UNC) path of the ChangeTZ.cmd file that is located in the Netlogon share. For example, type \\contoso.com\NETLOGON\ChangeTZ.cmd.

17. Click OK two times.

Important information about procedures described in this document:

a. You can import the registry key detailed above in any Windows Operating system language. However since it contains display information, the new time zone display names will be based on the “English US” language, as follows:

Argentina Daylight Time
Argentina Standard Time

b. The information on “Deploying the registry file with the new DST information using Group Policy” session can be applied to all computers in the network.

c. The information on “Changing the computer time zone via startup script” should be applied only to computers located in Argentina.

d. The instructions above can be applied on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Operating systems, however after performing these instructions on a Windows 2003 operating system, the current time zone may not be automatically changed to the ‘(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires’. Users may need to change the time zone manually after importing the registry key via startup script on Windows 2003 machines.

e. The instructions above are not supported on Windows Vista operating systems.

Impacts for Windows Mobile users in Argentina

Windows Mobile devices will show all items (messages and appointments) 1 hour off during the DST period (December 30, 2007 to March 15, 2008).

These devices require an update that is not available at this time. Information will be released as soon as it becomes available.

Impact for Outlook clients in Argentina

Three factors affect the scheduling of a meeting and appointment in Outlook:

The computer's clock setting (time).
The computer's local time zone setting.
The computer's daylight saving time adjustment setting.

Outlook time stamps the message request with the Greenwich Mean Time for the meeting. Outlook calculates Greenwich Mean Time by using the computer's clock time, plus or minus the local time zone adjustment, minus (depending upon the time of year) the daylight-saving time adjustment. If any of the three factors listed above are incorrect at the time the item is saved or if there is a modification afterwards (such as a DST change), the meeting time will be incorrect.

In the Argentina scenario, after moving Windows clients and servers to the new time zone “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires”, Outlook calendars will display items 1 hour ahead their actual time during the DST period (December 30, 2007 to March 15, 2008).

In addition, because there was a time zone move, all appointments need to be updated to reflect the new time zone information.

As such, "rebasing" of the items will be required to allow them to display the proper time and the proper time zone information.

The Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook can be used to update your calendar items to the new time zone “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires”.

1. What can I do to fix my appointments?

Users will have to use “Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook” on local computers to fix the appointments (recommended option).

-or-

Manually modify each appointment after the operating system time zone has been changed.

The Time Zone Data Update Tool for Outlook must be used with the /PHYSICALMOVE command-line parameter, which is not the default mode for the tool and, perhaps most importantly, not the mode in which the tool is launched automatically during setup.

Many of the special command-line options available for the Outlook tool are not supported when doing a time zone move. Most notably, /QUIET mode is not supported and the procedure needs manual intervention from the end-user.

Step by step procedure to use “Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook”

The following describes the ideal set of steps to be followed by end-users performing a time zone move:

I. Update the Operating System’s time zone information according to the section “How to update Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems” above

II. Switch the current time zone “(GMT -03:00) Georgetown” to the target time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires”.

III. Download and run the installation package from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=%20E343A233-B9C8-4652-9DD8-AE0F1AF62568&displaylang=en.

IV. When the tool is automatically launched as part of the above install, click the Cancel button.

NOTE: Step IV is necessary because the tool is automatically launched in time zone update mode rather than physical move mode. The above screen shot shows the tool in time zone update mode; note that there is only one time zone selector for “Your Time Zone” in update mode. Below you can find a screen shot of the tool running in time zone move mode; note that there are two time zone selectors for “Original Time Zone” and “New Time Zone.”

V. Restart the installed executable using the /PHYSICALMOVE switch:

a. On a 32-bit OS, run “%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool\tzmove.exe” /PHYSICALMOVE

b. On a 64-bit OS, run “%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool\tzmove.exe” /PHYSICALMOVE

NOTE: Do not confuse the installation package with the tool itself (both have the same name tzmove.exe). The resulting dialog should look like the following:

VI. Properly select “(GMT -03:00) Georgetown” from the “Original Time Zone:” drop down, and “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” from the “New Time Zone:” drop down and click OK.

NOTE: As with standard time zone updates, the tool defaults to updating affected items on your Calendar and in your Reminders folder. If you would like to update additional items (e.g. items in additional Calendars or a PST), you can do so by clicking the ‘Custom…’ button and manually selecting the target folder.

VII. The tool will inspect your mailbox and will report how many appointments will be moved:

If you click “Details” the appointment list will appear and you will be able to select all (default) or some of the appointments. In a normal situation you will move all the appointments to the new time zone. Click “OK” in the following dialog to proceed moving the appointments. A log file “Outlook Time Zone Update .log” will be generated in the %temp% directory.

VIII. After moving Click “OK” again to close the tool.

In addition to simply using the above guidance, IT administrators might consider streamlining the above procedure as follows:

In place of step III, create a local copy of tzmove.exe (the name of the self-extracting executable available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=%20E343A233-B9C8-4652-9DD8-AE0F1AF62568&displaylang=en) and install the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook using the /QUIET command-line parameter. By running the self-extracting executable in quiet mode, you will prevent it from automatically launching the installed tool in time zone update mode as described in step IV above.

Automatically launch the tool in time zone move mode after having installed it in quiet mode.

The above two steps can be captured in a simple .bat file similar to the following thus allowing end users to combine steps III, IV, and V above into one (i.e. just launch the .bat file):

@echo off

<path to tzmove.exe that was saved from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=%20E343A233-B9C8-4652-9DD8-AE0F1AF62568&displaylang=en>\tzmove.exe /quiet

"%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool\tzmove.exe" /physicalMove

@echo on

This is the maximum level of automation allowed by the tool in Time Zone Move mode. As you can see it still requires end-user intervention from the dialog in step V and forward.

2. What is the best time to update my calendar?

The best time to update your calendar items is as soon as you have changed your time zone settings in your operating system and before any new calendar item is created, accepted or sent.

3. Can I use the “Exchange Calendar Update Tool” to update (rebase) the appointments/meetings on the Exchange Server?

You cannot use “Exchange Calendar Update Tool” in the Argentina scenario. The Exchange Calendar Update Tool is not designed to update appointments when there is a move from one time zone to another.

The update has to be done on each client either manually or using the “Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook”.

Impact for Outlook Web Access clients in Argentina

The new time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” created following the recommendations on section “Updating Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems” will not be available on the OWA (Exchange Server 2000 and Exchange Server 2003) time zone options at this time. In order to have this new time zone available in OWA, there is a dependency on an index key which is not currently defined. We expect this to be defined over the next months.
After you configure Windows clients and servers to use the new time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires”, OWA users using “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” on the OWA time zone options, will receive the following warning when accessing their inbox:

When you open a message in OWA, it will be displayed with the incorrect time during the DST period. This is related to the CDO components in Exchange and there is no workaround for this behavior at this time.

Additional known issues for Exchange Server and Outlook clients

Meeting invitations sent by Outlook clients between different Exchange organizations may be off by 1 hour. This is related to the CDO components in Exchange and there is no workaround for this behavior at this time.
After Exchange Server 2007 is updated with the new time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires”, the “Microsoft Exchange Mail Submission” and “Microsoft Exchange Transport” services should be restarted.

Additional recommendations

Simulate the changes on a lab environment, so you know what will happen and what to expect.

Before doing any change in Outlook, request the users to print their schedule so they have a reference to follow if they have to manually update the appointments or double check after running the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook.

— For the meetings with multiple attendees only the meeting requestor should update the time. An update will be sent automatically by the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I use Tzedit.exe to modify the time “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” in order to include the DST dates defined for Argentina?

Based on previous experiences with other time zone updates released by Microsoft, this will not be the definite solution. The time “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” is shared with other country (Guyana) and this country is not adopting DST at this time.

We preferred the option to have a new time zone as this goes in line with what was done in the past for countries like Venezuela. In addition, we avoid impacts for countries currently using “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” other than Argentina.

2. Do I have to update machines outside Argentina?

It is recommended that you apply the registry updates to all machines, including the ones outside Argentina. However, the time zone move should be performed only on machines located in Argentina.

3. Should I manually adjust the machine’s clock on December 30^th2007?

You should not adjust the machine’s clock manually. This can cause adverse effects on your environment.

4. What calendar items will be updated using the Time Zone Update Calendar tool for MS Outlook?

Only appointments created using the original time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” which occur after the date/time the tool is executed.

5. Should I move to the time zone “(GMT -02:00) Mid-Atlantic” on December 30, 2007 and move back to “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” after March 16, 2008?

This is a feasible workaround for home users; however it may not be the best option for corporations/enterprise customers as it can cause undesirable results on Outlook calendars.

One of the side effects from this workaround is related with appointments created in different time zones. For instance, appointments created before the change will be in “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” and appointments created during the DST will be on “(GMT -02:00) Mid Atlantic”.

Another effect is that appointments created after March 16^th 2008 during the DST time will be off by one hour when the user go back to “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown”.

If the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook needed to be run for some reason, users would need to run it twice, once for the items created in “(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown” and once for “(GMT -02:00) Mid Atlantic”.

There may be more side effects on this workaround; this option was not thoroughly tested.

6. Is there any public guidance/documentation available on this matter?

Please direct your customers to:

§ LATAM Team Blog – http://blogs.technet.com/latam/default.aspx

§ Exchange Team Blog - http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/12/28/447791.aspx

§ Microsoft Argentina web site - http://www.microsoft.com/argentina/dst/

If you want more information, you can refer to the following Microsoft articles:

195900 - How Outlook handles time zones for meeting requests

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=195900

931667 - How to address time zone changes by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;931667

914387 - How to configure daylight saving time for Microsoft Windows operating systems

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;914387

325413 - INFO: Task Scheduler Behavior at Daylight Saving Time Transitions and Other Events

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;325413

Remember: April 1st is not this year's daylight saving time 'spring forward' date

atsim — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:09:00 GMT

If you did not apply the updates to your various PCs and devices as noted on our http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007 daylight saving time information site, but manually adjusted the time, please note that older devices may 'spring forward' on the first Sunday in April (the old beginning of DST).

As USA Today reports today...

"...a few new glitches might pop up this weekend. Daylight-saving time began three weeks early this year, causing a problem for thousands of older PCs, cellphones and other electronic devices. They were programmed to automatically switch the time on the traditional daylight time start date, this Sunday (on April 1st).

"And there may be more (glitches) on Sunday night. It's likely that some consumers didn't upgrade their older devices. Instead, they changed their clocks manually. That's worked so far. But the devices are still programmed to change the time on the original daylight time start date. They will change the time by an hour unless that feature has been turned off."

So, if you haven't already updated your PCs and devices for daylight saving time, consider the following steps:

Verify the time and date programmed on your PCs and consumer electronic devices. Some older DVRs (ReplayTV, Tivo) and PDAs may need to be updated especially if they are not always connected to a network service.
Download the updates - visit http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007 for more details.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST. 719,559; 1,072,117; 1,472,886

Applications using historical data from 2006 (or any previous years) can have invalid results

atsim — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 12:39:00 GMT

Executive Summary:

Applications using historical data from 2006 (or any previous years) can have invalid results. Microsoft is currently working to provide support for vendors and software developers for their applications, if the application does not provide historical DST start and end-date tables. The change in DST start-time was something applications on top of Windows could address, or not, by maintaining a historical DST-Change date to do this conversion (for countries like Israel). However, this had not been an issue in the USA previously, as DST had always started on the same day, prior to 2007. Windows provides the functionality to allow the operating system to address this, starting in Vista.

Example:

If a financial application accesses financial data from previous years which are stored within SQL, that application’s results can be incorrect. The application’s query results (or stored procedures) may fail or return invalid dates for periods before 2007 (any year with the older DST-start/end dates). For explanation on DST’s affect on time stamps in Office, see this article:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA102201961033.aspx

Detail

SQL Server DST and DateTime

With details below to expand on the following, it is easiest to summarize by saying that SQL server stores datetime ignorant of DST. Key points to consider are that:

· SQL Server does not manipulate datetime.

· The datetime value is stored as is with no modification on the part of SQL Server during insert/update/select.

· When running applications that appear to have results that have a manipulated the date, investigate the business logic in the stored procedures/selects/middleware/client applications.

· Also keep in mind that SQL is unaware of its physical or time zone location, with a base of users that could be global and in dozens of time zones SQL will accept any valid time remaining unaffected by DST rules of the host server or accessing client.

· SQL Server does not store datetime as an EPOCH/POSIX style.

Why SQL does not alter Datetime

The basic rules of relation databases ACID;

The one property of ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) is Durability. If SQL manipulates the data on the way in/out of the database it is a violation of standards of a stable RDMS. So if SQL changes your date, it would not be Durable and would violate the standards of a stable RDMS. The version of standards for ACID can be viewed in ISO/IEC 10026-1:1992 Section 4; and MS SQL Server follows this standard. So for SQL to violate that standard would be a significant departure from ISO standards. Business logic contained within the application, or stored procedures, middle ware, or an additional application layer function may choose to maintain a change table for DST dates, without violating the ISO standards. This holds true for any RDMS, that wants to comply with standards set forth in ISO/IEC.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID

In relation to SQL Datetime compared to EPOCH/POSIX time on UNIX;

SQL DateTime

Values with the datetime data type are stored internally by the SQL Server 2005 Database Engine as two 4-byte integers. The first 4 bytes store the number of days before or after the base date: January 1, 1900. The base date is the system reference date. The other 4 bytes store the time of day represented as the number of 1/300-second units after midnight.

Ref: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187819.aspx

UNIX EPOCH/POSIX time

Whereas EPOCH/POSIX time is based on number of seconds since midnight January 1, 1970, not counting leap seconds stored as an integer value. This is NOT a true encoding of UTC since UTC does account for leap seconds.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time

GETDATE() Function

The GETDATE() function requests the date and time from the local Host Operating System regardless of time zone and presents the server time to the calling T-SQL. No time or date manipulation is done on the request.

REF: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188383.aspx

GETUTCDATE()

The GETUTCDATE() returns the datetime value that represents Coordinated Universal Time or GMT. The current UTC is derived from the current local time and time zone data (or bias) on the SQL Server host computer. GETUTCDATE() should not be confused with “EPOCH UTC” time, they are not the same, see the link below for details.

Ref: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178635.aspx

DATEDIFF() & DATEADD() Functions

These two SQL datetime functions are not timezone or DST aware. When application uses these datetime functions to manipulate datetime data, application developers need to

make sure correct timezone and DST are applied before saving the result to the database.

Ref: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=931975, "How to prepare SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000 for changes to daylight saving time in 2007"

What is the impact on SharePoint by the Daylight Saving Time change in 2007?

atsim — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 04:57:00 GMT

Q: Where can I find out more about the status of any impact on SharePoint by the Daylight Saving Time change in 2007?

A: Please see http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/03/10/key-us-daylight-savings-time-information.aspx on the official blog of the SharePoint Product Group with more complete information from product support about the upcoming Daylight Saving Time change, and how it does or doesn't impact you.

All SharePoint products require that OS patch 931836 is applied to the server.
If other environments that SharePoint interacts with are not patched and SharePoint is—this could lead to issues with new data creation. Manual adjustments may be necessary in this scenario.
The primary SharePoint patch is WSS update 933738. The KB is at:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933738

It points to the download to the needed patch:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3e6ade34-06ee-4e69-88d1-a7e0461b71da&displaylang=en

The download page for the patch refers to both KB934000 and KB 933738. The actual patch is labeled: WSS2003-KB934000-GLB.exe
The KB934000 is what is known as a “Roll-up” KB. This will be automatically generated and will show all of the fixes that are included in this update.
In other words, there are not two separate updates and you can’t get to one—there is only one.

There has been a high demand to identify what data is/will be wrong. Many administrators are trying to evaluate if they want to run the rebase tool or not.

See the post for more details and SQL queries that should help.

Help desk guidelines on Daylight Saving Time for Microsoft Office Outlook Calendars

atsim — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:15:00 GMT

The Exchange team has posted a helpdesk-oriented document that provides recommendations and prescriptive guidance for updating Outlook calendars to comply with the Daylight Saving Time (DST) 2007 rule changes. The goal is to provide an Outlook user with a "personal touch" experience to help them understand what is happening with their calendar. Enterprise and business customers may find this helpful when dealing with end user questions or answering their helpdesk calls on the subject.

General References

Main Microsoft DST site - www.microsoft.com/dst2007
DST Technical chats FAQ - blogs.technet.com/dst2007
Webcasts and Technical Chats - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_webcasts
Step by Step Videos - http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/02/21/435543.aspx#435553

Tools Availability

Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667/en-us
Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool patch – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933146/en-us
Exchange Time Zone Data Update Tool - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930879/en-us

More information

For more info on updating Outlook calendars, see the full help desk guidance at http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/06/436731.aspx

DST 2007: Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x80004005

atsim — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 01:59:00 GMT

DST 2007: Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x80004005

This article deals with understanding and troubleshooting the famous " Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x800004005 " while extracting time zone information from users during the extraction mode of the Exchange Calendaring Tool.

(Author’s note: information has been gathered from many sources and we’ve scrubbed the data as best as possible.)

Table of Contents

· DST 2007 bulletin: Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x800004005`` 1

· Why do we run the tool in extraction mode?. 2

· What happens when running the tool in extract mode. 2

· Potential reasons for receiving the “Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x800004005” for a user during extraction mode. 3

· Perquisites. 3

· Workarounds. 4

· Summary. 4

· Appendices. 5

· Using CSVDE instead of the Exchange Calendaring Tool for user Time Zone Extraction. 5

· Using a Script to Add a Reoccurring Meeting to users mailboxes. 5

· Credits. 7

Why do we run the tool in extraction mode?

We run the Exchange Calendaring Tool in extraction mode to gather a list of Mailbox Distinguished Names, the server name the user’s mailbox is located on and lastly the time zone in which the user’s mailbox resides.

The reason for this is that we need to populate a .txt file with a list of users for rebasing purposes. The list will be used specifically to rebase user’s calendar items that fall within the extended DST period.

If your customer has only one Time Zone than this step is not as crucial because you can group them all together and manually add the time zone information in using Excel (or very manually with copy and pasting within the .txt file).

NOTE: Some companies have opted to go another route with regards to gathering this user data other than the Exchange Calendaring Tool. They have accomplished this task by performing a dump of the directory for this information. An example of this is via a CSVDE export will be provided at the end of this article.

In short this step of Extraction via our tool is to make gathering this key data on users (for rebasing purposes) a simpler process for our customers.

What happens when running the tool in extract mode

When the Exchange Calendaring tool is run (using the Outlook tool) in extract mode, the tool is going to look for the following user information on a particular Exchange Server:

· Users mailbox distinguished name

· Users Home Server

· Users Time Zone

The way in which the tool captures the user’s Time Zone information is by checking the following:

· Reoccurring Meetings during the Extended DST period

· CDO (Time Zone information is hard-coded in CDO)

o The method on gathering Time Zone data for a user is based on if there are reoccurring meetings within the Extended DST periods,

The most likely reason that there is no time zone info retrieved is that the mailbox is not the organizer of any meetings that fall in the delta period and therefore don’t need to have their mailbox rebased. The second most likely scenario is that they have only single instance meetings in their mailbox.

If your customers receive “Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x800004005” in the error log and it is for the majority of their user community you might want to turn up diagnostic logging. Turning up diagnostic logging to the maximum will help you determine your next troubleshooting steps. To turn up diagnostic logging to the maximum add the line “LoggingLevel=666” in the “MsExTmz.ini” file underneath the line containing “Logfile=msextmz.log”.

Example:

Logfile=msextmz.log

LoggingLevel=666

Save and close the MsExTmz.ini and rerun the extraction process. The “msextmz.log” file will contain greater and more understandable details on a per user basis.

NOTE: The log will tell you exactly why getting time zone information for a user has failed!

Potential reasons for receiving the “Unable find mailbox timezone:Error 0x800004005” for a user during extraction mode

· Those users do not have any calendar items they organized in the transition period.

· Those users do not have recurring meeting items in their calendar, only single-instance appointments (single instance appointments do not have any Time Zone data embedded).

· The tool was unable to find any time zone values in the mailbox of that specific user.

o To resolve this issue, try adding “ReadCalendarTimeZones=1” (without the quotation marks) to the Msextmz.ini file to force the tool to examine recurring calendar items for time zone information. You can create a new input file by using the DNs from the error log that you received from the last run.

· You are referencing Tzmove.exe from the wrong directory.

o To resolve this issue, extract the downloaded installation file into the folder where Msextmz resides or update the Msextmz.ini to include a full path to where Tzmove.exe is installed on the workstation that you are using.

NOTE: When you download the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook, the Tzmove.exe file is the installer for the actual tool. Referencing the installer will cause errors when you run Msextmz.

· The account that you are using to run Msextmz does not have full mailbox permissions and has not been delegated the correct Exchange permissions.

o To resolve this issue, run the “Grant Mailbox Permission” script from an Exchange Server computer.

o Give the account you are using for Extraction “SendAs” permissions via ADSIEdit on the server object (or even go as far as the OU if necessary).

For the multiple time zones:

· Traveling users have different time zones depending on the client.

· The customers BES server is centralized and its logon visibly causes time zone differences.

Other potential reasons for the error:

· Malformed Legacy DN’s.

o Use ExInteg to identify.

Perquisites

· Please ensure that you have the proper “SendAs” permissions

· Ensure that you application log file has plenty of room (each mailbox processed will create one entry in the application log file – running out of space can halt the extract process).

Workarounds

If there are calendar items that require rebasing and you did not receive any time zone information for them (and you have tested your “SendAs” permissions) you can simply take the contents of the “mailboxes_.txt and the “nonexsistent.txt” and merge them into a new”Mailboxes_1.txt (making certain that any missing data such as time zone values are added – use Excel, it’ll make it much easier).

Summary

If the Server has been patched with the DST 2007 OS update, the Client workstations have been patched with the DST 2007 OS update, the Exchange Servers have been updated with the CDO patch and there are no calendar items within the extended DST period then there is no rebasing to be done and you are fine! No further action is required...

Basically, if the above is true regarding patching and the Extraction mode of users fail because there is no meeting’s to rebase you are in good shape and have done your job.

Any new meetings that those users will create are going to be fine because they have the new Time Zone definitions.

In short, you only need to worry about meetings that are in the extended DST period that were created prior to the DST OS patching of the servers, and workstations.

Appendices

Using CSVDE instead of the Exchange Calendaring Tool for user Time Zone Extraction

You can perform a CSVDE export to CSV to gather the user’s mailbox DN, and the city in which the user resides. Why this is important is that you are able to tell the time zone in buy the city the user is in. With a CSV file you can easily manipulate it in Excel and build your own .txt file for updating / rebasing purposes.

And an example of a csvde command that works great is as follows:

· csvde -f UsersCities.csv -r "(&(mailnickname=*)(msexchHomeServerName=/o=Northwind Traders/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=EXBE01))" -l LegacyExchangeDN,l

o NOTE: you will obviously have to change my Exchange servers Legacy DN for your own.

After you have created this .csv file you will want to use Excel in order to sort by city. Please ensure that the .txt file you ultimately create has each user’s details in the following format:

· (tab separated), in the format of

o user <tab> server <tab> timezone

Using a Script to Add a Reoccurring Meeting to users mailboxes

If you are interested in using / testing a script for adding reoccurring meetings to your user base (in order to gather time zone data from the extraction procedure) you can test a new script that has come into my possession thanks to Tom Kudla. The script needs to run under the user’s credentials, so a logon script should and would be optimal.

Copy the following contents into notepad and save as a .vbs:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Disclaimer

'The sample scripts are not supported under any Microsoft standard support program or service. The sample scripts are provided AS IS without warranty of any 'kind. Microsoft further disclaims all implied warranties including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or of fitness for a 'particular purpose. The entire risk arising out of the use or performance of the sample scripts and documentation remains with you. In no event shall 'Microsoft, its authors, or anyone else involved in the creation, production, or delivery of the scripts be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, 'without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the 'use of or inability to use the sample scripts or documentation, even if Microsoft has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

'DSTrecurringMeeting.vbs

'Created: 1/28/2007

'Last Updated: 1/28/2007

'Revisions: None

'The following sample script looks for a special appointment with the subject *Meeting to assist with DST*. If the appointment it is found the script does 'nothing. If the appointment not found, it creates a recurring appointment. This could possibly be called from a logon script to silently create a 'recurring appointment for the user. This would allow the user's time zone to be detected Exchange Data Update Tool during extraction mode. Note: You'd ' 'have to run the extraction with the option enabled to look for recurring meetings. This script would need to execute under the user's context.

'If you have terminal server or Citrix users, I would to verify that this works OK. I believe it would but want to be sure. You could consider using

'a GPO to target certain users with a special logon script.

'Note: If a user happened to be traveling and changed their time zone on the OS, the recurring meeting would be created under that time zone

'This should be a minor occurrence for most companies but I wanted to point this out.

'The script creates one recurring appointment on 11/11/2006 at 3:00 AM, with no reminder. The recurrence ends on 11/18/2006.

'I did not choose this date for any particular reason. I tested this on outlook 2003 and outlook 2007.

'The file needs to be renamed to .vbs to run.

Const olFolderCalendar = 9

Const olAppointmentItem = 1

Const olRecursWeekly = 1

Dim objOutlook

Dim objAppointments

Dim objAppointment

Dim objRecurrence

Dim objNameSpace

Dim objProperty

Set objOutlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")

Set objNameSpace = objOutlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")

Set objAppointments = objNameSpace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderCalendar)

Set objAppointment = objAppointments.Items.Find("[Subject] = ""*Meeting to assist with DST*""")

If TypeName(objAppointment) = "AppointmentItem" Then

'Appointment found

'Do nothing

Else

'Appointment not found create it

Set objAppointment = objOutlook.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)

objAppointment.Start = #11/11/2006 3:00 AM#

objAppointment.Duration = 30

objAppointment.Subject = "*Meeting to assist with DST*"

objAppointment.Body = "*Special DST Meeting*"

objAppointment.Location = ""

objAppointment.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 0

objAppointment.ReminderSet = False

Set objRecurrence = objAppointment.GetRecurrencePattern

objRecurrence.RecurrenceType = olRecursWeekly

objRecurrence.PatternStartDate = #11/11/2006#

objRecurrence.PatternEndDate = #11/18/2006#

objAppointment.Save

End If

set objProperty = nothing

set objNameSpace = nothing

set objRecurrence= nothing

set objAppointment= nothing

set objAppointments = nothing

set objOutlook= nothing