The Raspberry Pi is a tiny, cheap, yet powerful circuit board which can work as a desktop computer. All you need is some good coding skills and proper compatible components for the Pi which you can easily get in a Raspberry Pi starter kit. Today, I am here to provide a guide for one of the most fundamental configuration settings, and that is on how to set time on Raspberry Pi.
What will you need to change date on Raspberry Pi?
- A Raspberry Pi board with OS installed (I recommend Raspberry Pi 2)
- A USB WiFi adapter dongle
- Raspberry Pi power supply
- Touchscreen display
- Micro SD card
- Wireless Keyboard and mouse
How to Set Time and Date on Raspberry Pi
You may know that a Raspberry Pi board cannot show you the exact time without any power source and internet. Also, it does not have a Real Time Clock (RTC) module to update the date and time regularly. You can externally buy and install it on your Raspberry Pi device, though. But, here, we will see how to set the date and time on Raspberry Pi without spending too much on extra installation.
Step-1: Connect and boot Pi
The first step for Raspberry Pi set time is to boot it up. Connect all the accessories with the board, start the power source and boot up the Raspberry Pi system. If the Raspberry Pi Operating System is not installed on the board, then get it done with the help of the Micro SD card.
Step-2: Change configuration settings
If your Raspberry Pi does not have an inbuilt WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities (which only can be found in Raspberry Pi 3 board), then attach the Wireless dongle to it and connect to the internet.
1. In the Raspberry Pi terminal, enter the command below:
sudo raspi-config
2. This will open the configuration window on your Raspberry Pi screen.
3. From the list, choose ‘Internalisation Options.’
4. Now, click on ‘Change Timezone.’
5. A new window of the ‘Geographical area’ will open. Select your region from the list. Then click on ‘Ok.’
6. Now, choose the appropriate Timezone according to your city of living. Select ‘Ok.’
7. Click on ‘Finish’ option.
Step-3: Reboot Raspberry Pi
The above process will update the date and time on Raspberry Pi, but it may not show in the date-time section on display. For that, you will need to restart Raspberry Pi device.
Shutdown and reboot Raspberry Pi and see the date and time on the screen.
Change time on Raspberry Pi now
I hope this guide on how to change date and time on Raspberry Pi will help you set Raspberry Pi time according to your region of living. You can also change Timezone to know date & time of a particular country.
Do you know any other quick way to set the date and time on Pi board? Let the world know your thoughts in the comment section below.
