How to Change 24 Hour Clock to 12 Hour Clock in Windows 10

If you don’t like the 24-hour time format in Windows 10, follow these simple steps to change the 24-hour clock to a 12-hour clock.

On Windows 10, the clock generally appears at the bottom right corner of the taskbar. Like with any operating system, Windows 10 lets you choose between 24-hour and 12-hour time formats. Depending on where you live, Windows might set the default time format to the 24-hour clock. If you don’t want to use the 24-hour clock, you can easily change the 24-hour clock to the 12-hour clock with just a few clicks.

Before proceeding, you should know that Windows uses two different formats called “Short time” and “Long time” to show the time. The “short time” appears on the taskbar to the bottom right corner. The “long time” appears in the calendar flyout that appears when you click on the taskbar clock. Since Windows treats them as two separate entities, you can configure them separately. For instance, you can show the 12-hour clock on the taskbar and a 24-hour clock in the calendar flyout menu.

Without further ado, let me show you how to change 24-hour clock to 12-hour clock in Windows 10.

Change 24 hour clock to 12 hour clock

The Settings app makes it quite easy to change the time format in Windows 10. All you have to do is select the 12-hour time format from a drop-down menu and you are good to go.

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings app.
2. Go to the “Time and Language” page.
3. Select “Region” on the sidebar.
4. On the right-panel, scroll down and click on the “Change Date Formats” link.
   
5. Select the 12-hour format time from the drop-down menu under “Short time“.
6. Next, select the 12-hour format time from the drop-down menu under “Long time“.
   

That is all, you will instantly see the 12-hour clock on the taskbar.

When you can click on the taskbar clock, you will see that the long time is also changed to 12-hour format.

Use Control Panel to Change 24 Hour Clock to 12 Hour Clock

You can use the good old control panel to change the time format from 24-hours to 12-hours. The good thing is that this method will work in all major Windows versions like 10, 8, and 7.If you like to use the Control Panel, follow this method.

1. Open the “Start Menu“.
2. Search for “Control Panel” and open it.
   
3. Select “Large Icons” from the top-left corner.
4. In the Control Panel, find the “Region” option and click on it.
   
5. In the Region window, select h:mm tt from the “Short time” drop-down menu.
6. Select h:mm:ss tt from the drop-down menu next to the “Long time” option.
7. Click on the “Apply” and “Ok” buttons to save changes.
   

That is all. The changes are saved instantly. You can see the changes reflect on the taskbar and in the time and date flyout that appears when you click on the taskbar clock.

As you can see, it is rather easy to change the time format from 24-hour clock to 12-hour clock in Windows 10 using the Settings app or the Control Panel.

I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.

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