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Windows Updates for New Russia Time Zones Now Available

As I highlighted last month, the Windows team in OSG have supported the new Russian time zone changes. What with the changes to the Ruble symbol and now the eleven new time zones and move away from daylight saving time, perhaps I should rename my blog…

As noted, the target release date was September 23, 2014, which was met: the Russian Federation time zone update is available now at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2998527 and on the Microsoft Russia site at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst/ru.

Please note that if you’re using any of the current Russian time zones or doing business with customers or partners in the affected territory, the guidance we received from the Russian government that the change will occur on October 26, 2014 at 2:00 am local time. When we see time zone offset changes (due to daylight saving time) and time zone revisions, the time change is often executed with the next click of the clock after 1:59:59h. (Well, not always: Samoa made its historic move at 23:59:59.)

Consumers and Small/Medium Business customers should ensure that Windows Update is turned on if you don’t have someone managing your computer. The update packages for all currently supported Windows platforms are available via Windows Update. If someone manages your network at work, it’s likely the needed updates are schedule to be deployed to your computers and devices, if they haven’t been installed already.

If you live or work in some of the regions affected by this change, you may want to check the time zone setting on your device (available in the Settings on Windows 8). In some cases in the affected areas, your device may be set to a new time zone. Some other applications may require changes or adjustments to the time and date information. In some cases, all the necessary changes automatically and you will need to take individual decisions in specific cases. For information on updating software from other vendors, please visit their Web sites.

For more information, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/time – details will be added to the site on other products and services as available.

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Update on Windows support for new Russian Time Zones

As noted in my blog post earlier this month, the Russian Federation passed a new law which changes all of the current time zones used in the Federation. (A highlight from the venerable BBC is available here.)

As noted, the changes will take effect October 26, 2014, and essentially moves many existing time zones back one hour, and create two new time zones. These new time zones will not observe daylight saving time (aka DST). (Which reminds me: we have also outlined recommendations to help achieve more seamless transitions to new DST and time zone policies on http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_ms_response.)

The good folks over in our Windows group in OSG have posted an announcement of the coming update for the new Russian time zone changes, as we plan to release an update for Windows on September 23, 2014 to address this change. We received guidance from the Russian government that the change will occur on October 26, 2014 at 2:00 am local time. When we see time zone offset changes (due to daylight saving time) and time zone revisions, the time change is often executed with the next click of the clock after 1:59:59h. (Well, not always: Samoa made its historic move at 23:59:59.)

The update will provide and update seven of the current time zones in use in the Russian Federation:

New Name of Time Zone

New Display Name

Current Name of Time Zone

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)

N. 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

Impact on users: None. Users who fall into these new time zones will have their settings automatically updated on Oct 26, 2014.

…will update will include three new time zones:

New Name of Time Zone

New Display Name

Current Name of Time Zone

Current Display Name

Russia Time Zone 3

(UTC+04:00) Izhevsk, Samara (RTZ 3)

N/A

N/A

Russia Time Zone 10

(UTC+11:00) Chokurdakh (RTZ 10)

N/A

N/A

Russia Time Zone 11

(UTC+12:00) Anadyr, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (RTZ 11)

N/A

N/A

Impact on users: Users who fall into these new time zones will need to manually switch to the new time zones, otherwise will remain in the current selected ones which will not be correct anymore for their region after Oct 26, 2014.

… and will effectively merge two existing time zones into a new one:

New Name of Time Zone

New Display Name

Current Name of Time Zone

Current Display Name

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

Impact on users: Windows will update “Vladivostok Standard Time” to the new time zone completely, and update time data only for “Magadan Standard Time” but leave the display/time zone name as is, so the user on the Vladivostok time zone won’t need to do anything (just as #1 above), but those on the other will need to manually switch in order to get the correct name. If they don’t, they’ll still have the correct time data after October 26, 2014, till Windows deprecates the “Magadan Standard Time” time zone in a later milestone, when they will have to switch.

The update also provides a new time zone for Belarus. Belarus is currently sharing time zone setting with Kaliningrad, so Windows will create a new “Belarus Standard Time” as part of this update.

  • Time zone name: Belarus Standard Time with a display name: (UTC+03:00) Minsk

  • All other value remain the same as the current “Kaliningrad Standard Time” time zone

Impact on users: Users in Belarus who fall into the “Kaliningrad Standard Time” time zone will need to manually switch to this new time zone, otherwise will be automatically updated to the new “Russia Time Zone 1” on October 26, 2014.

Note: Applicable systems for this update will be the same as those for the latest cumulative update, and all systems will need to have the latest cumulative update installed before this update can be applied. You can find the latest time zone cumulative update for Windows here.

Post also available via https://t.co/4pk6kSbyHc.

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Available now: August 2014 cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems

The August 2014 cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems has been released and is available as Microsoft KB 2981580. As noted, the update replaces the previous December 2013 CU (KB 2904266) and includes all the time zone and daylight saving time changes released as hotfixes after update KB 2904266 was released.

The following changes were made since the previous Windows cumulative time zone update:

  • Jordan Standard Time: For 2014 and onward, Jordan has changed its DST Start time from the last Thursday in March at midnight to the last Friday in March at 1 A.M., and its DST End time from the last Friday in October at 1 A.M to the last Friday in October at midnight. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2922717/) 
  • Fiji Standard Time: For 2014 only, Fiji has changed its DST End time from January 19 at 3 A.M. to January 19 at 2 A.M. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2922717/)    
  • Paraguay Standard Time: For 2014 and onward, Paraguay has changed its DST End date from the second Sunday in April to the fourth Sunday in March. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2935092/)    
  • Turkey Standard Time: For 2014 only, Turkey has changed its DST Start time from March 30 at 3 A.M. to March 31 at 3 A.M. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2935092/)
  • Pacific SA Standard Time: For 2014 only, the DST Start time is changed from the Last Saturday in April (April 26) at midnight to the Last Saturday in April (April 26) at 11 P.M., and the DST End time is changed from the first Saturday in September (Sept. 6) at midnight to First Sunday in September (Sept. 7) at 1 A.M. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2935092/)    
  • Egypt Standard Time: For 2014, Egypt has set its DST Start time at Thursday, May 15 at one minute before midnight, and its DST End time at Thursday, September 25 at one minute before midnight. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2981580/)    
  • Line Islands Standard Time: A new time zone for Kiritimati Island (UTC+14) is added. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2981580/)    
  • SA Pacific Standard Time: Starting on November 10, 2013, the display name is changed from “(UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito” to “(UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco.” (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2922717/)   
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Available now: Update to support the new currency symbol for the Russian ruble in Windows

To continue the Russian theme this month, you might’ve noticed that in addition to getting eleven new time zones, Russia is has a new symbol for the ruble.

I’m happy to note the arrival of the update to support the new currency symbol for the Russian ruble in Windows, as outlined in Microsoft KB 2970228:

…the new Russian ruble symbol can be input by using the physical keyboard, Windows on-screen keyboard (osk.exe), or Tablet PC Input Panel (Tabtip.exe) in Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2. Additionally, the new currency symbol is added under the Currency tab of the Region settings in Control Panel.

We have defined the new keyboard combination for Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, and Sakha. Check out the hotkey combinations in this article.

Update rollup packages are available for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012. It’s also available to be obtained from Windows Update or Microsoft Download Center for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Before you install this update, check the prerequisite of this update.

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Russian Federation Permanently Switches to Winter Time October 26, 2014: Changes to Microsoft Products

(Update 082214: Please see the new post Update on Windows support for new Russian Time Zones with more information on the upcoming update.)

MP900385402[1]Back in 2011, I wrote on the Microsoft corporate blog about the of daylight saving time in the Russian Federation. Then in 2012, I noted Russia considered a return to Winter Time in 2012.

If my very poor knowledge of Russian proverbs is correct: Бог тро́ицу лю́бит. In other words, “Third time’s a charm.” (I’m also reminded of the saying, “There was a time they loved an accordionist, and now the time has come where they love a tractor driver.” but that’s a different story.)

Since then, there’s been a number of reports of discussions in Russia about a shift away from the changes to time zones and daylight saving time offsets in the Russian Federation. Over the summer (here in the northern hemisphere) the Russian State Duma passed a proposal which was signed into law by President Putin, which outlines the plan to change all of the time zones in the Federation. (A highlight from the venerable BBC is available here.) The changes will take effect October 26, 2014, and essentially moves many existing time zones back one hour, and create two new time zones. These new time zones will not observe daylight saving time (aka DST).

(You may view the Federal Law 431985-6, noting the return to winter time and to use 11 time zones in Russia at http://itar-tass.com/obschestvo/1333711 and http://www.pravo.gov.ru:8080/page.aspx?111660. with the amendments to the Federal Law on time available here.)

We were aware of this proposal and have worked closely with representatives in the country to prepare our products and services for the update. For our customers and partners worldwide, this means there are some things to be aware of, and in some cases, work to do to prepare for this change. We have a preliminary set of new display names for the new time zones to use with the new Russian Time Zones (aka RTZ):

RTZ #

Name of Time Zone (Current)

Display Name

1

Kaliningrad Standard Time

(UTC+02:00) Kaliningrad (RTZ1)

2

Russian Standard Time

(UTC+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd (RTZ2)

3

N/A

(UTC+04:00) Izhevsk, Samara (RTZ3)

4

Ekaterinburg Standard Time

(UTC+05:00) Ekaterinburg (RTZ4)

5

N. Central Asia Standard Time

(UTC+06:00) Novosibirsk (RTZ5)

6

North Asia Standard Time

(UTC+07:00) Krasnoyarsk (RTZ6)

7

North Asia East Standard Time

(UTC+08:00) Irkutsk (RTZ7)

8

Yakutsk Standard Time

(UTC+09:00) Yakutsk (RTZ8)

9

Vladivostok Standard Time / Magadan Standard Time

(UTC+10:00) Vladivostok, Magadan (RTZ9)

10

N/A

(UTC+11:00) Chokurdakh (RTZ10)

11

Kamchatka Standard Time (obsolete)

(UTC+12:00) Anadyr, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (RTZ11)

(Often, time zone names are referenced by developers through API calls (“GetTimeZoneInformation”) as noted on here on MSDN.)

We have outlined the release schedule for the update prior to the change, which we’ll publish shortly on our Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center (at http://www.microsoft.com/time) and on our Daylight Saving Time & Time Zone Blog.

If you’ve read previous posts, you’ll recall that our Windows team in OSG follows DST and TZ changes globally and provides guidance to all product and services teams on the changes. Most applications and services reference the underlying Windows OS for their TZ and DST rules, with some exceptions. This change in Russia has the potential for worldwide impacts on time references for multinational customers, and so the recommendation will be for all customers to apply the updates to currently supported products. Updates will be important not only for users in Russia but for connected systems around the world. (While Microsoft’s Services infrastructure will be updated to reflect these DST changes, it’s important that your computers — both clients and servers that connect to and interact with these services — should have the Windows DST updates applied in order to ensure data integrity.)

Which reminds me: we have also outlined recommendations to help achieve more seamless transitions to new DST and time zone policies. (More information is also available at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_ms_response.)

Also available via https://aka.ms/Russia2014