Knowledge Base

"Event ID: 64" error message on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Professional in a Windows NT 4.0 domain

Article ID: 314345

Article Last Modified on 2/22/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

This article was previously published under Q314345

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

SYMPTOMS

On a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or a Microsoft Windows XP Professional-based computer that is a member of a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0-based domain, you may receive the following event in the System event log:

Source: W32Time
Type: Warning
Event ID: 64
Description: Because of repeated network problems, the time service has not been able to find a domain controller to synchronize with for a long time. To reduce network traffic, the time service will wait 960 minutes before trying again. No synchronization will take place during this interval, even if network connectivity is restored. Accumulated time errors may cause certain network operations to fail. To tell the time service that network connectivity has been restored and that it should resynchronize, execute "w32tm /s" from the command line.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur because Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 use a time-synchronization service called W32Time to synchronize the date and time on computers in a Microsoft Windows 2000-based or Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based network. A Windows Server 2003-based computer tries to synchronize its time with a Windows 2000-based or Windows Server 2003-based domain controller. If the Windows Server 2003-based computer cannot find a Windows 2000-based or Windows Server 2003-based domain controller in the domain, it cannot synchronize the time.

RESOLUTION

If there is an existing time-synchronization hierarchy in your Windows NT 4.0-based domain that uses W32Time, and you want the Windows XP-based, Windows Server 2003-based, or Windows 2000-based computers to participate, follow these steps:

On a Windows NT 4.0-based domain controller that is running W32Time, edit the %SystemRoot%\W32time.ini file by setting the LocalNTP value to yes, as follows:

LocalNTP=yes
On the same domain controller, type the following three commands at the command prompt (be sure to press ENTER after each command):

net stop w32time
w32time -update
net start w32time
On the Windows XP-based computer, type the following at a command prompt (where domain controller is the domain controller that you modified in steps 1 and 2)

net time /setsntp:domain controller

and then press ENTER.

NOTE: If you are using Timeserv on the Windows NT 4.0-based domain, you must upgrade to the W32Time service before you use this procedure. Timeserv does not support local NTP server functionality.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

CAUTION: When you run the net time /setsntp:domain controller command on the Windows XP-based or Windows Server 2003-based computer, this modifies the default parameters for the W32Time service in the registry. Because time synchronization is critical in a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003-based domain, set the operation of the W32Time service back to the default before the Windows XP-based or Windows Server 2003-based computer becomes a member of a Windows 2000-based or Windows Server 2003-based domain.

To set the operation of the W32Time service back to the default, delete the ntpserver value, and then change the type value from ntp to nt5DS. The values are located in the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters

For additional information about Windows Time Service, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

246145 Changes to W32Time and TimeServ Utilities

224799 Basic Operation of the Windows Time Service

223184 Registry Entries for the W32Time Service

Additional query words: kbfaqw2kds

Keywords: kbenv kberrmsg kbprb kbtimeserv KB314345

Microsoft KB Archive/314345

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