How to Change Date Format (Windows Server 2012 / 2016 / 2019 / 2022)

Method 1 — Using Control Panel (GUI)

1. Open Control Panel

2. Go to Clock and Region

3. Click Region

4. In the Formats tab:

   • Change Short date to: MM/dd/yyyy

   • Change Long date to your preferred format.

5. Click Apply → OK

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Method 2 — Using Settings (Windows Server 2019/2022)

1. Open Settings

2. Go to Time & Language

3. Select Region

4. Under Regional format, click Change data formats

5. Update Short date to: MM/dd/yyyy

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Method 3 — Using PowerShell

If you want to change it programmatically:

Set-Culture en-US

Or change only the date format:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\International" -Name sShortDate -Value "MM/dd/yyyy"

Then restart Explorer:

Stop-Process -Name explorer -Force

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Important Notes

• Changing date format applies per user account, not system-wide. Each user may need to log in and set the same format.

• Some applications read regional settings only at startup — they must be restarted.

• If the server is domain-joined, Group Policy may override these settings.