It’s also incompatible with Windows’ own Internet time-syncing service. Windows does have a registry setting that forces it to store the time as UTC, but it reportedly isn’t well supported and can cause problems with some third-party applications that always assume the hardware clock is in local time. Making Linux use local time the same way Windows does is probably the best option. Don’t follow both steps of instructions or they still won’t be speaking the same language! We recommend you make Linux use local time, if possible. To fix this, you have two options: Make Linux use local time, or make Windows use UTC time. This leads to one of your operating systems showing the wrong time in a dual boot situation. By default, Windows assumes the time is stored in local time, while Linux assumes the time is stored in UTC time and applies an offset. The clock keeps track of time, even when the computer is off. Your computer stores the time in a hardware clock on its motherboard.