How to Change Time Zone in Debian Linux

Every operating system has a default time zone configured. Sometimes users are required to change the default timezone to some other timezone as per their requirements on the Linux system. This tutorial will help to change the timezone on Debian 11, Debian 10, and Debian 9 systems.

Check Current Timezone

You can view the current time zone of a system by simply typing the ‘date’ command in the terminal.

date 

Output:
Sat 26 Mar 2022 05:43:11 AM UTC

The above command shows that this system is running in the UTC timezone.

You can also refer to the timedatectl command to view the details output of the current system time, timezone, and many other details.

timedatectl 

Output:
               Local time: Sat 2022-03-26 05:43:49 UTC
           Universal time: Sat 2022-03-26 05:43:49 UTC
                 RTC time: Sat 2022-03-26 05:43:48
                Time zone: Etc/UTC (UTC, +0000)
System clock synchronized: no
              NTP service: n/a
          RTC in local TZ: no

Set or Change Time Zone in Linux

The Linux keeps time zone relegated files are available under /usr/share/zoneinfo directory. There you can find all the available time zone.

You can choose one of the below methods to change the Linux system time zone via the command line.

• Method 1 – Using timedatectl command (Recommended)

  Use of timedatectl command is the proffered way to set or change the time zone on a Linux system. You can list all the available timezones with the following command.

  timedatectl list-timezones 
  

  Find out the correct time zone for your system in the above result. Next, use the following command to set a new time zone to the Linux system.

  sudo timedatectl set-timezone "America/Los_Angeles" 
  

• Method 2 – Using /etc/localtime Symlink

  You can also change the system time by changing the symbolic link of /etc/localtime file on Linux systems. You just need to search for the correct time zone files under /usr/share/zoneinfo directory.

  First rename of remove the current file:

  sudo mv /etc/localtime /etc/localtime-old
  

  Then change the symbolic link of file to the correct time zone configuration file:

  sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime 
  

The system will automatically adjust the new time based on the new time zone set on the system. You can again run “timedatectl” command to confirm the time zone is updated correctly.

Conclusion

This tutorial guide you to set or change timezone on a Debian Linux system.