If you have set up your Debian system to retrieve the timezone automatically, it will synchronize your system time over the Internet so that your system has the timezone as your nearest location. If you want to change the time zone to your own preferences, Debian offers you two ways to do this; from the command line and through the graphical user interface.
In this article, we will explain how to change the current time zone of a Debian 10-Buster system.
How to Check the Current Time Zone
Check timezone through the Command Line
Open your Terminal application through the Application Launcher search as follows:
You can access the Application Launcher through the Super/Windows key on your laptop.
Then, enter the following command in order to view information about your system time and time zone:
$ timedatectl
You can also view this information by using the following command:
$ ls -l /etc/localtime
Check timezone through the UI
In order to view information about the current time zone through the UI, you need to access the Date & Time settings. You can do so through the Application Launcher as follows:
Click on the Date & Time search result to open the following Settings view:
How to Change the Time zone
Change timezone through the Command Line
Open the Terminal and enter the following command in order to list timezones of a specific zone:
Syntax:
$ timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i [zone]
Example:
We will use this command to list all the time zones of Europe:
$ timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i europe
In this example, we will be setting the time zone to Europe/Istanbul. First, let us unlink the system time with local time through the following command:
$ sudo unlink /etc/localtime
The next step is to use the following command to set a new time zone:
Syntax:
$ sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/[Zone/TimeZone] /etc/localtime
Example:
$ sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Istanbul /etc/localtime
You can verify the changed settings through one of the following commands:
$ timedatectl
or
$ ls -l /etc/localtime
Check timezone through the UI
In the Date & Time tab on the Debian Settings utility, you need to first unlock the settings on this view. To do so, click on the Unlock button and provide authentication details as only an authorized user can change Date & Time settings.
Click the Authenticate button. You will now see the settings as active/configurable.
Please switch off the Automatic Time zone button if it is turned on:
Then click the Time Zone option in order to change the time zone.
Through the above view, you can either search for a time zone through the search bar or manually move to your time zone through the mouse. As soon as you do that, the time zone of your system will be changed.
As you have seen, it is very simple to change the Time Zone of your Debian system both through the UI and the command line. You just need to follow a simple procedure and use a few commands in order to perform this task.
