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Alberta and British Columbia stop changing clocks on 1 November: Windows needs the October update first

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By TrustList Editorial

Alberta moves permanently to UTC-6 and most of British Columbia to UTC-7 on 1 November 2026. Microsoft adds two new Windows time zones in the October update; devices without it will show the wrong time.

About Alberta and British Columbia stop changing clocks on 1 November: Windows needs the October update first

Alberta and British Columbia stop changing clocks on 1 November: Windows needs the October update first

25 September 2026 — Microsoft told Microsoft 365 administrators on 25 September 2026 (Message Center post MC1479468) that three time-zone changes affect Windows devices this autumn, and that devices in Alberta and British Columbia will show the wrong time after 1 November 2026 unless they have the new time-zone update. For organisations with staff, servers or customers in western Canada, the date to plan around is 1 November, when clocks there would normally go back an hour and will not.

What the governments decided

  • Alberta has adopted permanent "Alberta Time", abbreviated ABT, equal to UTC-6. The Government of Alberta says that from November 2026 clocks will no longer reset to Mountain Standard Time. Microsoft's guidance applies the same change to affected Northwest Territories locations, including Yellowknife and Inuvik.
  • British Columbia announced on 2 March 2026 that the 8 March spring-forward was its last time change. From 1 November the province stays on "Pacific time", set at UTC-7. The provincial release gave people and businesses eight months to prepare.
  • Morocco turned its clocks back one hour to UTC+0 on 20 September 2026, according to Microsoft, which shipped that change in the September security update.

What Microsoft is shipping

Windows gains two new time zones: "(UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta)", registry ID Alberta Standard Time, and "(UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia)", registry ID British Columbia Standard Time. Windows 11 versions 26H2, 26H1, 25H2 and 24H2 received them in the September non-security preview update. All remaining supported versions, including Windows Server, get them in the October security update on 13 October. Devices that set their time zone automatically will switch by themselves; on others, someone has to select the new zone by hand.

For devices that cannot be updated before 1 November, Microsoft's interim workaround is a fixed-offset zone with the right offset: "(UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan" for Alberta and "(UTC-07:00) Yukon" for British Columbia. Microsoft warns these have different names and historical rules and are not permanent replacements.

Who is affected

Any organisation with Windows devices or servers in Alberta, British Columbia or Morocco, and anyone running scheduling, payroll, time-and-attendance, booking or logistics systems that serve those places. Operating systems, databases, programming runtimes and SaaS platforms each carry their own time-zone data, so a Windows fix does not update them.

What to do

  • List Windows devices and servers in the affected regions and confirm they will have the October update well before 1 November; install the September update in Morocco now.
  • On machines with a manually set time zone, plan the switch to the new zone.
  • Ask the vendors of your calendar, payroll, rostering, booking and ERP systems whether their time-zone data already includes the Alberta and British Columbia changes, and when.
  • Check recurring meetings and scheduled jobs that cross 1 November, especially across the US border, where offsets to Alberta and British Columbia will now change twice a year.

Sources

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