How to set time in linux Posted on April 19, 2011 by dpejic While logged in as root do the following: Type "date". You should see some variation of" "Wed Nov 24, 9:29:17 EST 1999" To change the time type(as an example): date -s 10:10 The system response will be: "Wed Nov 24, 10:10:02 EST 1999" Then if you want to set the hardware(BIOS) clock so the system will keep the time when it reboots type: clock -w or setclock The program setclock will set your hardware clock based on your system configuration parameters including whether or not your clock is set to universal time.