Time is not displaying in the Top Bar

unity panel time

55,768

Solution 1

Reinstall indicator-datetime. It should be installed by default, but just in case you have removed it unknowingly, it is best to run the install command again.
sudo apt-get install indicator-datetime
Next, we are going to reconfigure the date time:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive tzdata
Lastly, restart unity.
sudo killall unity-panel-service
That’s it. The date and time indicator will appear in the menu bar now.

(Source)

Solution 2

For me, it was enough to restart unity:

sudo killall unity-panel-service

Solution 3

WARNING: All users will logout immediately, possibly losing data. All applications will also close.

It is happening to me sometimes, the solution is:

sudo restart lightdm

Solution 4

I've been in the same situation myself once. What I've made was to reinstall gnome-control-center using the following commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-control-center

After I restart the GUI from tty1 uing the following command:

sudo restart lightdm

the problem didn't appeared again until now.

View more solutions

55,768

lastman93

Developer

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

lastman93 over 1 year

I'm running Ubuntu 13.10 with dual boot along side Windows 8.

The top panel or bar doesn't display the time.

When I open the Clock menu, all the settings over there are grayed out
Settings > Time and date > Clock

I tried other methods (like dconf) but that didn't work.
- Lucio over 10 years
  
  I have no idea what do you mean with "greyed out". Please, take a screen shoot!
- Luís de Sousa over 10 years
  
  I have precisely the same issue. "Grayed out" means that none of the options / check boxes in the Clock tab are responsive.
- dartdog about 10 years
  
  Having same issue and reinstalling Gnome-control-center and restarting lightdm don't fix it for me...
- dartdog about 10 years
  
  found answer here maketecheasier.com/date-time-missing-ubuntu-1310
kiri over 10 years

It's worth mentioning that this will logout all users immediately, possibly losing data.
Luís de Sousa over 10 years

Indeed, this is an annoying solution, but alas, it is a solution.
Cheezey about 10 years

Worked for me and I didn't lose my session, thanks.
kaiwan almost 10 years

Just doing step 3 worked for me (you could try it first, and if it doesn't help perform the other steps): sudo killall unity-panel-service
UnicornsOnLSD over 9 years

@minerz029 I have edited the answer to include your comment as it is an important information for people trying out the above command.
igauravsehrawat about 9 years

There is a better solution mentioned: i.e: sudo killall unity-panel-service
Mythul about 9 years

I've managed to also get the bug in Ubuntu 14.04. Happens from time to time.
Paulo over 7 years

I just needed to kill unity-panel-service in order to work for me.
Davinder Kumar over 6 years

perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BattleTested_закалённый в бою about 6 years

yes, that's it...
Raja Rama Mohan Thavalam about 6 years

Work like a charm .....