A September 2014 time zone update for Russia is available

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Summary

Russia has announced that it will change its existing time zones on October 26, 2014. Microsoft released an update for Windows on September 23, 2014 to address this change. Users should install the update before October 26, 2014 to avoid having incorrect time zone data after this date.

This update supersedes the update that is described in update 2981580 that was released in August 2014. All additional time zone changes that were released as hotfixes after update 2981580 was released are incorporated into this update.

If you have already deployed update 2981580, read the descriptions of the specific time zone changes that are addressed in this article to determine whether you must deploy this update immediately. If no systems are affected directly, you can schedule deployment at the next available opportunity.

We recommend that you regularly deploy the most current Windows cumulative time zone update to help maintain the consistency of the time zone database on all systems.

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More Information

The update that is described in this article changes the time zone data to accommodate the changes in time zone designations and names in Russia.

Update information

How to obtain this update

Microsoft Download Center

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

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Microsoft scanned these files for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the files were posted. The files are stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the files.

Prerequisites

Applicable systems for this update are the same as those for the latest cumulative update. There are no prerequisites for installing this update.

Restart requirement

You may have to restart the computer after you install this update.

Update replacement information

This update supersedes the August 2014 cumulative update.

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

Virus-scan claim

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

General changes made by this update

The following changes are made by this update.

Update seven existing time zones

New time zone name	New display name	Current time zone name	Current display name
Russia Time Zone 1	(UTC+02:00) Kaliningrad (RTZ 1)	Kaliningrad Standard Time	(UTC+03:00) Kaliningrad, Minsk
Russia Time Zone 2	(UTC+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd (RTZ 2)	Russian Standard Time	(UTC+04:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd
Russia Time Zone 4	(UTC+05:00) Ekaterinburg (RTZ 4)	Ekaterinburg Standard Time	(UTC+06:00) Ekaterinburg
Russia Time Zone 5	(UTC+06:00) Novosibirsk (RTZ 5)	North Central Asia Standard Time	(UTC+07:00) Novosibirsk
Russia Time Zone 6	(UTC+07:00) Krasnoyarsk (RTZ 6)	North Asia Standard Time	(UTC+08:00) Krasnoyarsk
Russia Time Zone 7	(UTC+08:00) Irkutsk (RTZ 7)	North Asia East Standard Time	(UTC+09:00) Irkutsk
Russia Time Zone 8	(UTC+09:00) Yakutsk (RTZ 8)	Yakutsk Standard Time	(UTC+10:00) Yakutsk

Effect on users

Users who are located in these new time zones will have their settings automatically updated on October 26, 2014, except in the following situations:

In the Udmurt Republic and Samara Oblast region, users should manually switch to "Russia Time Zone 3" (instead of accepting the automatic update to RTZ 2)
In the Kemerovo Oblast region, users should manually switch to "Russia Time Zone 6" (instead of accepting the automatic update to RTZ 5)
In the Zabaykalsky Krai region, users should manually switch to "Russia Time Zone 7" (instead of accepting the automatic update to RTZ 8)

Add three new time zones

New time zone name	New display name	Current time zone name	Current display name
Russia Time Zone 3	(UTC+04:00) Izhevsk, Samara (RTZ 3)	Not applicable	Not applicable
Russia Time Zone 10	(UTC+11:00) Chokurdakh (RTZ 10)	Not applicable	Not applicable
Russia Time Zone 11	(UTC+12:00) Anadyr, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (RTZ 11)	Not applicable	Not applicable

Effect on users

Users who are located in these new time zones must manually switch to the new time zones. Otherwise, their time zone settings will be incorrect for their region after October 26, 2014.

Merge two existing time zones into one new time zone

New time zone name	New display name	Current time zone names	Current display names
Russia Time Zone 9	(UTC+10:00) Vladivostok, Magadan (RTZ 9)	Vladivostok Standard Time Magadan Standard Time	(UTC+11:00) Vladivostok (UTC+12:00) Magadan

Effect on users

For the current “Vladivostok Standard Time” time zone, Windows will update all time zone settings. For the "Magadan Standard Time" time zone, Windows will update only the time data. The display name will not change. Therefore, users in the "Vladivostok Standard Time" time zone do not have to manually update any settings. However, users in the "Magadan Standard Time" time zone must manually select “Russia Time Zone 9” as their new time zone setting after October 26, 2014. The Magadan Standard Time” item will be removed from the time zone list in the December 2014 DST Cumulative Update.

The following exceptions apply to users who are currently in the “Magandan Standard Time” time zone:

Users in the Magadan Oblast region must manually switch to "Russian Time Zone 9."
Users who are in the Chukotsky Avtonomny Okrug (Chukotka) and Kamchatsky Krai (Kamchatka) regions must manually switch to "Russia Time Zone 11."

Create a time zone for Belarus
Belarus is currently sharing time zone settings with Kaliningrad. Therefore, Windows creates a dedicated time zone for Belarus as part of this update. The new time zone has the following characteristics:
- Time zone name: Belarus Standard Time
- Display name: (UTC+03:00) Minsk
- All other values remain the same as for the current "Kaliningrad Standard Time" time zone
Effect on users

Users in Belarus who are located in the current "Kaliningrad Standard Time" time zone must manually switch to the new "Belarus Standard Time" time zone. Otherwise, these users will automatically be updated to the new "Russia Time Zone 1" on October 26, 2014.

List of known issues

The following are the known issues in this update.

No automatic time zone selection for some users
Windows XP Embedded and Windows Server 2003 users cannot automatically select the correct new time zone after they install this update. Instead, users on these platforms can select the new time zone from the Time Zone list in the Date and Time Properties item in Control Panel that is shown in the following screen shot.

These users can also run the following command at a command prompt to update the time zone setting:
```
tzchange.exe /c <timezone name> 
```
Note In this command, <timezone name> is the registry key name of the corresponding time zone in the system registry under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones subkey. This parameter is also the same as the current name of a time zone.

Users who are currently in the "Kaliningrad Standard Time" time zone and who are running Windows Server 2003 must manually set the time zone after they install this update. To do this, these users must either manually select "(UTC+02:00) Kaliningrad (RTZ 1)" in the Time Zone list in the Date and Time Properties item in Control Panel or run the following command at a command prompt:
```
tzchange.exe /c "Kaliningrad Standard Time" 
```
Historical data query not maintained after new time zone is selected
After a user switches to another time zone, Windows does not maintain its past time zone settings. If the newly selected time zone has a different UTC offset from the previous selection, any queried date and time information may be incorrect if the time period of the query occurs before the time at which the time zone setting change is made.

This issue applies to users who manually switch to "Russia Time Zone 3," "Russia Time Zone 10," "Russia Time Zone 11," or "Belarus Standard Time." This issue also applies to users who manually switch from "Magadan Standard Time" to "Russia Time Zone 9."
"Date out of range” message on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
After this update is installed on Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, users see the following message in the Date and Time Properties item in Control Panel between October 26, 2014 at 02:00 and January 1, 2015 at 00:00 (midnight):

Daylight Saving Time ends on [Date out of range] at 12:00 AM. The clock is not set to adjust for this change.

This message does not affect system runtime functionalities.

After January 1, 2015 at 00:00 (midnight), the following correct message is displayed:

Daylight Saving Time is not observed by this time zone.
Incorrect DST settings for future years on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Embedded
If users install this update on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Embedded, their systems will continue to use the DST settings for 2014 even after the calendar year changes. This can cause the system to display the time incorrectly.

To resolve this problem, users should install the December Cumulative Update (scheduled to be released in December, 2014) before the calendar year changes. After users install both the Russian time zone update and the December Cumulative Update, their systems will apply the correct DST settings and continue to display the correct time after the end of the 2014 calendar year.