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Is it possible to customize data (or date-time) format in Windows (I am using Windows XP)?

The current format which is followed by the OS [to show date-modified, etc.] is MM/DD/YYYY or M/D/YYYY, whereas I have been comfortable with DD/MM/YYYY or D/M/YYYY format. I am finding it hard to refer Date-modified [which I use often] of files and folders.

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  • 1
    Yikes. ISO 8601, please.
    – Joey
    Mar 4, 2010 at 9:35
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    @Johannes, what's yike there? You look for your comfort .. I look for mine ..
    – Rookie Programmer Aravind
    Mar 4, 2010 at 18:02

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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Yes, try the following

People who use Windows may have noticed that the clock in the system tray displays time in the 24 hour format by default. I always prefer 12 hour format, if you want to know how to change it or if you simply want to get rid of AM and PM to save the space to stick in one more taskbar icon! Well, here is the solution.

In order to change how the time is displayed on your computer, click on Start > Control Panel, and choose Regional and Language Options.

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Click the Customize button underneath the Standards and formats section. Below that button, you’ll also see an example of how each setting is currently configured for Number, Currency, Time, Short Date, and Long Date.

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Click on the Time tab and change the time format to H:mm:ss (note the uppercase H) and press OK

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The uppercase H or HH stands for 24-hour format, whereas the lower case h andhh means 12-hour format. The single h is if you do not want to display leading zeros for single digit hours and hh is if you want a leading zero.

To further customize your Date / Time settings, here are some useful tips:

  • Type uppercase H or HH to Display time in a 24-hour format
  • Type lowercase h or hh to Display time in a 12-hour format
  • Type two characters, HH or hh to Display leading zeros in single-digit hours
  • Type a single uppercase H, or lowercase letter, such as h, m, or s to suppress the display of leading zeros in single-digit hours, minutes, or seconds
  • Type lowercase t to display a single letter to indicate AM or PM
  • Type lowercase tt to display two letters to indicate AM or PM
  • Type single quotation marks (’) around text to display text
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    Please next time add in the information you're linking to, because link rot might render your answer useless in years time!
    – Ivo Flipse
    Mar 4, 2010 at 9:25
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Go to Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
Click on Change format of Number, Date and Time.
In regional option menu, change the format setting to English (United Kingdom) .. Done!!

By following the above steps, it introduces a language taskbar on the desktop which is redundant but unavoidable [you can minimize it anyway.]

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    Beware that some software uses these settings as well. Like when opening a CSV file in Excel by simply double-clicking it, Excel expects a dot for the decimal separator when using most English regions, but might expect a comma for other regions. (And there's some setting to not show the language bar, but I am not on Windows so can't tell you where to find it.)
    – Arjan
    Mar 4, 2010 at 9:47
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Follow these steps to set the seconds into the date modified file folder view:

  • Start button → Control Panel → Region & Language
  • Formats tab, → click "Additional Settings" → Time tab
  • Set short time to "hh:mm:ss tt" (no quotations) → click Apply
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  • This is what the above answer already suggests?
    – slhck
    Jun 23, 2011 at 15:24

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