Microsoft recommends disabling the Secure Time Seeding (STS) in Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, and Windows Server 2025 due to reported timekeeping issues. Additionally, organizations should review and ensure proper time synchronization and monitoring on critical servers.
When will this happen:
Microsoft recommends applying this disablement as soon as possible. This recommendation applies to all existing deployments of Windows Server 2016 and later (including domain controllers and member servers).
How this will affect your organization:
Disabling Secure Time Seeding (STS) may prevent potential timekeeping errors that could affect time-sensitive workloads, such as Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS) domain controllers, VM hosts, and servers using time for critical functionality.
What you need to do to prepare:
IT admins should review timekeeping requirements in their environments and then disable the STS feature by modifying registry or Group Policy settings and rebooting the affected machines. See Secure Time Seeding recommendations for Windows Server for steps on how to disable STS in Windows Server.
Additional information: