One of the most common complaints from users who travel between countries or work across multiple regions is that their Windows device shows the wrong time zone. While Windows 11 includes an “Set time zone automatically” option, it is not always enabled by default.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to enable automatic time zone detection on Windows 11 devices managed with Microsoft Intune using a combination of:

1. A Settings Catalog policy to enable Location Services.
2. An Intune Remediation to enable the Automatic Time Zone service (tzautoupdate).

Why Location Services Matter

Windows can only automatically determine the correct time zone if it has access to the device location.

If location services are disabled, Windows cannot detect that the user has moved to another region and will continue using the previously configured time zone.

Therefore, before enabling automatic time zone updates, make sure Location Services are enabled through Intune.

Step 1: Enable Location Services with Intune

Create a Settings Catalog Policy

Navigate to:

Intune Admin Center
Devices → Configuration → Create Policy

Configure:

• Platform: Windows 10 and later
• Profile type: Settings Catalog

Add the following settings

Search for Location and configure:

Location

Privacy

Depending on your organization’s privacy requirements, you can further restrict which applications are allowed to access location data.

Assign the policy to your target device group and allow it to synchronize.

Step 2: Create an Intune Remediation

Even with Location Services enabled, the automatic time zone feature may still be disabled if the Time Zone Auto Update Service is not configured correctly.

The service responsible for this is:

tzautoupdate

Windows expects this service to be configured as:

• Startup Type: Manual (Trigger Start)
• Registry Value: Start = 3

We’ll use an Intune Remediation to detect and correct this automatically.

Detection Script

The detection script checks whether automatic time zone updates are already enabled.

$RegPath = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tzautoupdate"
$Value = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $RegPath -Name Start -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Start

if ($Value -eq 3) {
    Write-Output "Automatic time zone enabled"
    exit 0
}
else {
    Write-Output "Automatic time zone disabled"
    exit 1
}

Detection Logic

• Returns 0 when automatic time zone detection is enabled.
• Returns 1 when remediation is required.

Remediation Script

If the detection script reports non-compliance, the remediation script configures the required settings.

# Enable Time Zone Auto Update service

$RegPath = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tzautoupdate"

if (-not (Test-Path $RegPath)) {
    New-Item -Path $RegPath -Force | Out-Null
}

Set-ItemProperty -Path $RegPath -Name Start -Value 3 -Type DWord

# Set service startup type to Manual (Trigger Start)
sc.exe config tzautoupdate start= demand | Out-Null

# Start the service if possible
try {
    Start-Service tzautoupdate -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
catch {}

Write-Output "Automatic time zone enabled."
exit 0

What the Script Does

• Creates the registry key if necessary.
• Sets the startup value to 3 (Manual).
• Configures the service startup type to Manual (Trigger Start).
• Attempts to start the service immediately.
• Returns success to Intune.

Step 3: Deploy the Remediation

Navigate to:

Devices → Scripts and Remediations → Remediations

Select:

Create Remediation Package

Upload

• Detection Script → Detection script above
• Remediation Script → Remediation script above

Recommended Settings

Schedule

Recommended:

• Hourly for mobile users
• Daily for fixed office devices

Validating the Configuration

After the policy and remediation have run, users should see:

Settings → Time & Language → Date & Time

The following setting enabled:

You can also verify via PowerShell:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tzautoupdate

Expected result:

Start : 3

You can also check the service:

Get-Service tzautoupdate

Expected:

Final Thoughts

Enabling automatic time zone detection is a small change that can greatly improve the experience for travelling users, remote workers, and consultants who frequently move between locations.

By combining:

• A Settings Catalog policy to enable Location Services
• An Intune Remediation to configure the tzautoupdate service

you can ensure Windows 11 devices automatically adjust to the correct time zone without requiring user intervention.

For organizations managing fleets of Windows 11 laptops through Intune, this is a simple but effective quality-of-life improvement that reduces support calls and prevents calendar and meeting scheduling issues caused by incorrect local time settings.