Where Install Date is Found

[Patrick Whittle]

The current version of Windows 2000 Server on my computer was full of
registry keys from old applications, too many. For this reason I
re-partitioned my hard drive, and reinstalled Windows 2000 Server fresh.
BUT, I didn't notice the CMOS clock was screwed up and showing December 7,
2013 ! Where in the registry can I modify the install date?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Have you looked for this information in your motherboard manual.



~~~~~~


Hope this helps.


Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA


Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Calvin]

Have you looked for this information in your motherboard manual.

HUH ???? Talk about not reading the question before opening one's mouth !!

In answer to the original question, my understanding is the install date/time
are recovered by reading the time/date stamps of the appropriate registry keys
(like the license number) There is no separate key that stores the OS install
date/time in a human readable form.

Most people seem to be unaware that the access info for registry keys includes
time/date stamps (just like files do) - probably primarily because there is not
any supplied tools to let us read them :-(

How are you actually reading you install time/date ?? (using what programme? - I
use PSInfo from Mark Russinovich's SysInternals site myself for this task)

Calvin.

 

[Patrick Whittle]

I am not reading the install time/date using PSInfo tool, or other. I have
to boot into DOS first (with diskette) and manually set the date to 2013.
Only then can I boot into Windows again; all services load and confirm the
date of installation.

 

[Brian Cryer]

The current version of Windows 2000 Server on my computer was full of
registry keys from old applications, too many. For this reason I
re-partitioned my hard drive, and reinstalled Windows 2000 Server fresh.
BUT, I didn't notice the CMOS clock was screwed up and showing December 7,
2013 ! Where in the registry can I modify the install date?

You could try posting to a windows server specific group, such as
or

Hope you get a resolution soon.

 

[nt4-ever]

This is caused by an inaccurate time stamp for the installation
being reported by Windows NT. The value displayed in Systems
Management Server client inventory is retrieved from the
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Installdate
registry key.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=235162

((on my system: ))
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"SoftwareType"="SYSTEM"
"InstallDate"=dword:339105fc

This value represents a time/date as an offset in seconds from
midnight, January 1, 1970.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=232227

/YEAR=
Instructs the Windows core time function to ignore the year
that the computer's real-time clock reports and instead use the
one indicated. Thus, the year used in the switch affects every piece
of software on the system, including the Windows kernel.
Example: /YEAR=2001. (This switch was created to assist in Y2K
testing.)
http://www.sysinternals.com/Information/bootini.html

 

[Calvin]

This value represents a time/date as an offset in seconds from
midnight, January 1, 1970.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=232227

Hey, good detective work there Rod - I didn't even know this key existed. I have
to take back what I said earlier now - the Install date IS stored in the registry !

Added to the NT4Ref site Knowledgebase page

Calvin.

 

[nt4-ever]

Hey, good detective work there Rod -

Thanks Calvin; it keeps me young ie
Every day there is something New
to learn re NT4 ..

Calvin said:
"Most people seem to be unaware that the access info for registry keys
includes
time/date stamps (just like files do) - probably primarily because
there is not
any supplied tools to let us read them :-( "

how about: C:\WINNT\system32\regedt32.exe
if you choose to output a text file; it reports:
Key Name: HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System
Class Name: System
Last Write Time: 1999/01/29 - 14:00

ie just for the Key names; not the key-values ..
:rod-sacramento

 

[Calvin]

how about: C:\WINNT\system32\regedt32.exe
if you choose to output a text file; it reports:
Key Name: HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System
Class Name: System
Last Write Time: 1999/01/29 - 14:00

ie just for the Key names; not the key-values ..

Hey - thanks for the tip - didn't know about that one - I rarely if ever use the
export feature of RegEdt32 though.

Calvin.