Windows 10: How to Change to a 12-hour Clock

Some people prefer reading digital clocks in the 24-hour “military” format. However, a lot of people instead prefer 12-hour clocks. Windows 10 defaults to using the 24-hour format. This guide will cover how to change the clock to use the 12-hour format.

You can configure the time format settings in the Settings app. The easiest way to get to the right page is to right-click on the clock in the taskbar and then click “Adjust date/time”. This option will be near the top of the drop-down box.

This will open the Settings app on the “Data & time” page. Here you can set what time zone you’re in, but annoyingly you can’t choose between the 12- and 24-hour clocks. To get to the right page, you can click “Date, time & regional formatting” under “Related settings” in the top right. Alternatively, you can click on the “Region” tab. Both will take you to the same place.

In the Region settings, click the link at the bottom of the page, “Change data formats”.

Here you can change the short and the long time displays to be in the 12-hour format. To do so, click on their respective drop-down boxes and select the short format you prefer. The clock options are the 24-hour and 12-hour clocks, both with and without leading 0’s.