Time is not displaying in the Top Bar

Question

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.

I have no idea what do you mean with "greyed out". Please, take a screen shoot! — Lucio, Oct 26 '13 at 20:23
I have precisely the same issue. "Grayed out" means that none of the options / check boxes in the Clock tab are responsive. — Luís de Sousa, Nov 12 '13 at 19:54
Having same issue and reinstalling Gnome-control-center and restarting lightdm don't fix it for me... — dartdog, Feb 19 '14 at 17:29
found answer here http://www.maketecheasier.com/date-time-missing-ubuntu-1310/ — dartdog, Feb 19 '14 at 17:33

score 169 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 16 '16 at 09:02

169

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)

edited Jun 16 '16 at 09:02

David Foerster

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answered Feb 19 '14 at 17:34

dartdog

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Worked for me and I didn't lose my session, thanks. – Cheezey Mar 06 '14 at 22:58
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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 – kaiwan Jul 04 '14 at 06:41
I just needed to kill unity-panel-service in order to work for me. – Paulo Aug 23 '16 at 11:20
perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – Davinder Kumar Oct 04 '17 at 04:14

score 81 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '14 at 21:53

81

For me, it was enough to restart unity:

sudo killall unity-panel-service

answered Feb 19 '14 at 21:53

wachr

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yes, that's it... – BattleTested_закалённый в бою Feb 19 '18 at 15:22
Work like a charm ..... – Raja Rama Mohan Thavalam Mar 12 '18 at 06:05

score 19 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 14 '17 at 12:18

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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

edited Mar 14 '17 at 12:18

Taimoor Changaiz

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answered Oct 27 '13 at 05:55

user151472

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It's worth mentioning that this will logout all users immediately, possibly losing data. – kiri Oct 27 '13 at 05:57
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Indeed, this is an annoying solution, but alas, it is a solution. – Luís de Sousa Nov 12 '13 at 19:59
@minerz029 I have edited the answer to include your comment as it is an important information for people trying out the above command. – palerdot Sep 20 '14 at 17:27
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There is a better solution mentioned: i.e: sudo killall unity-panel-service – igauravsehrawat Jan 31 '15 at 04:42
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I've managed to also get the bug in Ubuntu 14.04. Happens from time to time. – Mythul Feb 16 '15 at 10:41

Radu Rădeanu · Answer 4 · 2014-02-10T06:14:18.533

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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.

edited Feb 10 '14 at 06:14

answered Nov 12 '13 at 20:46

Radu Rădeanu

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 14 '13 at 04:23

It means your chosen region is not matched to your local server.

To correct: 1/ set the time&date to your actual region (eg China) 2/ use synaptic to select the repository server for your actual region (eg China). 3/ reboot.

This should solve the issue. Recurrence may be caused by change in location, or change in server, or update/upgrade. If so, repeat the above.

Muddassir Nazir · Answer 6 · 2014-02-20T09:46:08.497

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Or you can simply restart your computer. Time will show itself on the top panel again. I have also faced this problem a few times.

Because sometimes sudo lightdm restart won't work

edited Feb 20 '14 at 09:46

answered Feb 19 '14 at 17:45

Muddassir Nazir

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Time is not displaying in the Top Bar

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