Syncing Domain Controller Clocks

It appears some computers in our computer lab have clocks running about 3-4 minutes fast.

As of right now, when we join a computer to the domain, it sets the clock based on our server's Domain Controller clock (Windows Server 2008 R2).

How can we have our server sync its time up with an external server that we are not joined to?

I'm not very network/server-savvy, but apparently the Windows Domain Group Policy will not allow this to be changed by default - so how can I override that setting so that our server can set its clock to sync with an external server?

Solution 1:

I would recommend against doing anything where you would be overriding the time settings for your local domain joined systems.

What you should be able to do is change the time server set on the domain controller holding the PDC emulator role to point to your on campus clock. That should result in all the computers on your domain remaining correct relative to that system.

There are some horrible things that will happen if the difference between your domain controllers and any domain joined systems get too large. This is the safest route to go, imho.

EDIT - per your request this should do what you want. Execute on your PDC emulator.

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:<you.rip.add.res> /syncfromflags:MANUAL
w32tm /config /update

The IP address listed should be that of your campus time server.