sync_docker_time.ps1

Write-Host "Synchronizing your docker time."

$principal = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent())
if ($principal.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator)) {
	$name = (Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM | Where-Object { $_.Id.StartsWith("Microsoft:") -and $_.Id.EndsWith("\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0") }).Name # "Time Synchronization" for English Windows
	Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM -Name $name | Disable-VMIntegrationService
	Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM -Name $name | Enable-VMIntegrationService
	echo $name
	Write-Host "Time synced!"
	Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to exit."
} else {
	Write-Host "Elevated privileges are required."
	Start-Process -FilePath "powershell" -ArgumentList "$('-File ""')$(Get-Location)$('\')$($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name)$('""')" -Verb runAs
}

That's very useful!

Though for people not running an EN version of Windows, it's worth indicating they should first check what their localized name for "Time Synchronization" is and modify the script accordingly. For example, with a French Windows, it should be replaced by "Synchronisation date/heure"

Darn Windows! Can't use a stable name instead of a localized one!

Cool. Thank you for pointing that out.

You're welcome! Btw I had a very rough version of your script that didn't ask for elevated privileges (I'm not good at powershell). Hence, yours was really a time saver for me :)

@anyone, you can get the name of the services activated in your Docker VM by simply running Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM in an elevated powershell. this dumps a pretty table like this one:

VMName          Name                           Enabled PrimaryStatusDescription SecondaryStatusDescription
------          ----                           ------- ------------------------ --------------------------
DockerDesktopVM Interface de services d’invité False   OK
DockerDesktopVM Pulsation                      True    OK
DockerDesktopVM Échange de paires clé-valeur   False   OK
DockerDesktopVM Arrêt                          True    OK
DockerDesktopVM Synchronisation date/heure     True    OK
DockerDesktopVM VSS                            False   OK

I'm not experienced in Poweshell myself. I'm thinking, can we use Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM from you to get the localized name? :D We can cut the second column seventh row but I don't think the order is guaranteed.

Just for a reference this is my output:

VMName          Name                    Enabled PrimaryStatusDescription SecondaryStatusDescription
------          ----                    ------- ------------------------ --------------------------
DockerDesktopVM Guest Service Interface False   OK
DockerDesktopVM Heartbeat               True    OK
DockerDesktopVM Key-Value Pair Exchange False   OK
DockerDesktopVM Shutdown                True    OK
DockerDesktopVM Time Synchronization    True    OK
DockerDesktopVM VSS                     False   OK

It seems the data is sorted alphabetically by the English Name (even in French). That seems to indicate either there are additional properties not listed here or this is the natural order of the list (also likely). However using the list order does not seem very reliable to me.
I've done some testing. In particular, Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM | Format-List dumps all the properties. There I found that the Time sync service was associated with the Microsoft:A43838FD-F598-4C0B-A5D5-C122E9482EA8\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0 id. If this id is stable (ie you have the same one), then, we could retrieve the localized name of the service like this:

$name = (Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM | Where-Object {$_.Id -eq "Microsoft:A43838FD-F598-4C0B-A5D5-C122E9482EA8\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0" }).Name

I'm not on my work laptop right now, so won't test this until monday, but I'll probably give it a try (this would give us a script that works across borders; great in times of confinement 😏 )!

So, I double-checked on another computer, and it is not that easy: the id must be parsed...

• On my first machine the id was: Microsoft:92E819AC-4AF5-4417-8227-65251A9303F7\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0
• On the second one: Microsoft:A43838FD-F598-4C0B-A5D5-C122E9482EA8\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0

Only Microsoft and the Guid after the \ are common.

On my machine: Microsoft:E43C372E-23C2-41A6-89E7-5FBF3A080CAC\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0

Making the script respect locale seems doable.

Yes, this seems to work:

$name = (Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName DockerDesktopVM | Where-Object { $_.Id.StartsWith("Microsoft:") -and $_.Id.EndsWith("\2497F4DE-E9FA-4204-80E4-4B75C46419C0") }).Name

Nice. Good job. I've updated the original gist. Thank you. :)

👍

By the way, I upgraded my Docker for Windows to version 2.2.0.5 and it seems to be much better at resyncing time after the PC went to hibernation. Anyway the script may still prove useful if there are cases when sync fails!

👌