Microsoft KB Archive/216661

= How to Implement a Policy to Set the Date Format =

Article ID: 216661

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 2
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4

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This article was previously published under Q216661



IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry



SUMMARY
This article describes how to determine the date format that is displayed to users when they log on to a computer.



MORE INFORMATION
A user can configure the date format using the Regional Settings tool in Control Panel.

You can apply a policy to a computer to control the date format that is displayed to the user (for example, MM/dd/yy or MM/dd/yyyy). The following registry key controls the date format:

Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International

Name: sShortDate

Type: REG_SZ

Default value for U.S. English: MM/dd/yy

The following example shows the different values you can use for this registry key, and how the date is displayed for a specified value: Value         Result MM/dd/yy      03/08/98 M/d/yy        3/8/98 M/d/yyyy      3/8/1998 MM/dd/yyyy    03/08/1998 yy/MM/dd      98/03/08 dd-MMM-yy     03-Mar-98 Through the use of policies in Windows NT 4.0, you can write a custom .adm file and incorporate it into the policy file. For additional information about policy files and custom .adm templates, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

185589 Guide To Windows NT 4.0 Profiles and Policies (Part 4 of 6)

You can cut and paste the following information into a file and save it as a custom .adm file. After the .adm file is incorporated into the policy, you can configure the date format for users.

--Start of Date Format ADM-- CLASS USER

CATEGORY !!DATE KEYNAME "Control Panel\International" POLICY !!ShortDateFormat PART !!DateFormatDesc        EDITTEXT REQUIRED VALUENAME sShortDate END PART END POLICY END CATEGORY   ; Date

[strings] Date="Date" ShortDateFormat="Short Date Format" DateFormatDesc="Please enter the date mask. For example MM/dd/yyyy" --End of Date Format ADM--

Additional query words: year y2k hoax user profile

Keywords: kbinfo kbenv KB216661

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