Windows 8/10 date format dd/mm/yyyy

Question

Is it possible to change the date format for Windows 8/10 to be dd/mm/yyyy with the separator being specifically (/)?

Is the only way to do it in the registry?

Start program regedit.exe (via Win + R and type regedit). Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International. Find ShortDate item and change the value to DD/MM/yyyy. Then you need to restart the computer, and it will start to work.

Solution 1

You can use the GUI to set a custom date format for any given region:

1. Open the Region control panel (intl.cpl from a terminal).
2. Click Additional settings... at the bottom-right of the window.
3. The Customize Format window will appear, click the Date tab.
4. In the Short date field, enter your desired format. For example: d/M/yyyy.
5. Click apply, and the changes take effect immediately.

Solution 2

I use Windows 8 and its region setting is set to Australia. The current short date format is d/MM/yyyy. e.g. 27/03/2014. You may set this as you want without changing the region. Is this what you mean? "Region" is in Control Panel. If it's not what you want, please let me know details more.

(Updates)

Would you please try this?

Go to Region - Click "Language preference" - Click "Add a language" - Add English (Australia).

On my system, English (Australia) and English (NZ) show different things on "Language" window. On English (Australia), it says "Keyboard layout: US + Date, time and number formatting" whilst English (NZ) says "Keyboard layout" only. It might be related to your situation. If my hypothesis is correct, adding Australian one will resolve your issue by adding new formats.

Solution 3

Be sure to observe capitalization:

• H - hour of day - 24 hour clock
• h - hour of day - 12 hour clock
• m - minute
• s - second
• d - day of month
• M - month
• y - year

Use other capitalizations at your peril.

Comments

[WillNZ]

My region settings are to NZ but I don't have that date format available.

[Scott Rhee]

Hi WillNZ, I updated my answer - would you please try that and let me know what happens?

[Aaron Franke]

Be aware that this changes the system culture, so it will change how apps display dates, and some programs may break. I changed this and it changed the output of C# DateTime.ToString() method.