If you are using the latest Windows 8 OS, you must be already aware of the new Lock Screen which is shown just before the login or welcome screen. It works similar to a mobile phone lock screen. You need to press any key or use a mouse click to unlock the computer.
This new lock screen shows a nice background image which can be changed using PC Settings as described here. If you don't like lock screen, you can turn it off using this guide.
Lock Screen in Windows 8 shows some useful information such as battery status, network connectivity status, email notifications, etc. Apart from this information, it also shows current day name, date and time in big fonts which might be useful for many people.
But if you want to change or customize the display format of date and time on lock screen, you can't do it. By default Windows 8 doesn't provide any built-in option to customize date and time style of lock screen.
Today in this tutorial we are going to share a hidden Registry tweak which will allow you to customize day name, date and time format on Windows 8 lock screen. With the help of this tutorial you'll be able to:
- Switch between 12-hour and 24-hour time format on lock screen
- Change language of day name and date on lock screen
In testing builds of Windows 8 such as Developer Preview, Consumer Preview or Release Preview, a hidden file "UserSettings.ini" was used to store information about the date and time format of lock screen. This file was present in "%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Logon\" folder. It contained information about current locale name, language, time format, etc and looked like following:
[GlobalizationPreferences]
TimeFormat=hh:mm tt
LocaleName=en-US
GeographicRegion=US
Calendar=GregorianCalendar
Clock=24HourClock
Languages=en-US
One could easily change the settings given in the INI file and it used to immediately apply to lock screen. Unfortunately Microsoft removed this feature from final RTM version of Windows 8. Now the INI file no longer exists in Windows 8 and even if you create the file manually, it doesn't work.
So how to customize the day, date and time display format on Windows 8 lock screen? Don't worry! Although Microsoft removed the INI file but they put the same information in Windows Registry. Now you'll need to edit Registry to change or customize the information.
So if you want to customize Windows 8 Lock Screen date and time format and if you want to change display language of Windows 8 lock screen information, check out following simple steps:
1. Press WIN+R keys to launch RUN dialog box. Type regedit and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemProtectedUserData
3. Under "SystemProtectedUserData" key, you'll see a key with the name similar to S-1-5-21-x-x-x-x. Under this key, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SystemProtectedUserData\S-1-5-21-x-x-x-x\AnyoneRead\LocaleInfo
4. The "LocaleInfo" key is the one which we require to change the lock screen date and time format. This key contains all the required information which was stored in INI file in Windows 8 testing builds.
5. Click on "LocaleInfo" key and in right-side pane, you'll see various Strings such as:
- Calendar
- Clock
- GeographicRegion
- Language
- LocaleName
- NativeDigits
- SubstitutionMode
- TimeFormat
6. We'll be playing with following Strings only:
- Language
- LocaleName
- TimeFormat
You might need to take ownership of the Registry key before editing it. Please check this guide to learn how to take ownership of a Registry key.
7. First let's talk about time format. If your Windows 8 lock screen shows time in 24-hour format, then the "TimeFormat" String in your Windows 8 Registry would be set to HH:mm tt. Change it to hh:mm tt and it'll start showing the time in 12-hour format.
Same principle applies to 12-hour format. If your Windows 8 lock screen shows time in 12-hour format, then the "TimeFormat" String would be set to hh:mm tt in your system. Change it to HH:mm tt and it'll start showing the time in 24-hour format.
8. Now its turn of display language. If you want to show day name and date in a different language on lock screen, you can change values of Language and LocaleName Strings to your desired language code.
For example, if you want to show the information in Hindi language, change values of Language and LocaleName Strings to hi-IN and lock screen will start showing day name and date in Hindi language.
You can use any language code such as en-US for English, de-DE for German, fr-FR for French, ru-RU for Russian, etc.
Following are some screenshots of Windows 8 Lock Screen showing day name and date in different languages:
Windows 8 Lock Screen information in German:
Windows 8 Lock Screen information in Russian:
Its fun to show information on Lock Screen in a different language. Feel free to try the tutorial and share your feedback in your comment...
Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Windows 8
Kyle
FIRST! where on earth did you knew all these tricks?? omg
VG
^^ Thanks. Recently a reader asked me about it. Since I knew about INI file present in the testing builds, I started searching for similar strings in Registry and found them. ;)
Asrin475
WoW! Nice Trick VG!, We are thanking again nd again You.
Marcus
Nice post! Next question is how do you change the font on the lock screen?
Also, how do you change the size of the time and date pop-up that appears when you activate the charms bar? That thing annoys me, I'd much rather see just the charm bar, not the pop-up window that takes up a sizable chunk of the bottom right hand corner of the screen..
GK
Nice! Btw you should mention to do this for the correct user account/matching SID. From cmd prompt, do:
wmic useraccount get name,sid
to find the SID for your user account and then do the tweak for that SID.
@Kyle, Sysinternals Process Monitor or similar tools allow discovering all hidden/undocumented registry values and keys easily.
jusil164
what about the color of it? can it be changed?
Anderk
VG, I'm getting error saying that I don't have enough permission to edit, though I'm administrator.
Wahid
VG, how to change weather language ? (only weather) is it possible ?
VG
^^ I dont think its possible to have different language for weather. I dont use this app so cant help you.
@Anderk
Have you taken ownership of the key?
@jusil164
If you are talking about login screen color, you can change it using following steps:
Go to following key:
In right-side pane create new DWORD DefaultColorSet and set its value to any digit between 1 and 24.
@Marcus
Its not possible by editing Registry but may be some system file editing can tweak it?
jusil164
not that one vg.. hehe... i mean that the font color of the clock time and date.. :)
VG
^^ I didnt find any way to change the color. I think its defined by system file.
Asrin475
VG', can we change the font size?, Because I used 'ta-IN' and the date shows in big letters. and am or pm symbol is not showing in lockscreen. Is it default?.
VG
^^ Yes. AM/PM symbols are not shown on Lock Screen. Regarding font size, its not possible via Registry editing.
Addy
Hey VG , another method to edit time format on lock screen . On taskbar , where the time is ticking , click there , select change date and time settings . select change date and time . Select change calendar settings . Under Time tab , set short time format as hh/HH:mm tt
VG
^^ Its the default method to change system wide date and time format. You can also access the same using intl.cpl command or using Regional applet in Control Panel.
jusil164
so can we edit a system file to change its color? :) want to change it especially if I use a light background, can't see the clock.
VG
^^ I dont know which file contains the code but I think it should be present inside some file.
Mazk
VG! Great job bro! (Y)
Kevin
You never cease to amaze me VG. Wow
bala
hi...
by default my windows 8 was in spannish
i download n installed english lang pack
but still some words r still in spannish
for example
restarting
log in etc...
pls help me....
VG
^^ Make sure correct language is set as default in Control Panel -> Language.
bala
i follow n went control panel
only 1 language is there English US
bala
Thanks VG....i found the solution
I had to change the system lang..
the setting was available in the languages windows itself...
thanks once again
Dragon
Hey VG. Is it possible to change the system date format? my laptop only has yyyy-MM-dd for the short date and this is affecting my excel dates. Is there a way to add more formats or just change the existing one?
Dragon
Its ok i found the Add button.
Ashwin
Thank you VG, it works. Is it possible for you to provide a registry file that will directly modify this info on its own( can be present for various languages). I doubt this ability because the key will vary. So is there a way?
Ashwin
@Dragon you can do the same without using the registry too. Just by going into Date and Time settings in the Control Panel, you can change the Short and long date format.