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Daylight Saving Time & Time Zone Blog
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Interim guidance for Manitoba permanent DST 2026

Naveen_Shankar's avatar
Naveen_Shankar
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Oct 07, 2026

Microsoft has made a decision about addressing the new time-related change for Manitoba

Editor's note October 13, 2026: Microsoft has released an update to address the new time-related change for Manitoba. Please refer to Manitoba 2026 time zone update available now

On September 17, 2026, the Manitoba government made an official announcement about a Daylight-Saving Time (DST) time zone change. Starting at 02:00 a.m. November 1, 2026, the official time will not fall back by an hour and will permanently remain on the UTC-5 time zone. 

The impact of this change is as follows: 

  1. Clocks will not be set back by an hour at 02:00 a.m. on November 01, 2026, for the Manitoba time zone. 
  2. The Manitoba Region time zone will permanently remain on the UTC-5 time zone. 

Microsoft plans to release an update to support this change. However, we require sufficient time to properly build, test, and release such an update for all platforms before the change goes into effect. See How Windows manages time zone changes to better understand the complexities of this process. 

Release plan 

The supported platforms will receive an update to support this time zone change as part of the October 2026 Windows security update, scheduled for October 13, 2026. For additional information, please review our official policy page and How Windows manages time zone changes. 

The following platforms will receive an update to support this time zone change as part of the October 2026 Windows security update: 

  • Windows 11, version 25H2
  • Windows 11, version 24H2
  • Windows 11, version 23H2
  • Windows Server 2025
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016

Note: Windows 11, version 26H1 OS platform will receive an update to support this time zone change as part of October 2026 cumulative non-security update, scheduled for October 28, 2026

Customers must install the update before permanent time changes take effect on November 1st, 2026. This Windows update introduces a new time zone: 

Affected area 

Name displayed in Windows Settings 

 (New Time Zone) 

Registry time-zone ID 

Manitoba 

(UTC-05:00) Manitoba 

Manitoba Standard Time 

The registry time-zone IDs are intended primarily for administrators and command-line tools. Users normally see only the windows Settings display names. 

After installing the update, verify the selected time zone under: Settings > Time & language > Date & time 

Case #1 - Automatic time-zone selection 

If "Set time zone automatically" option is enabled and location services are available, Windows will automatically select the appropriate time zone based on the device's location. No manual action is required. It shall be reflecting as (UTC-05:00) Manitoba Windows display name. 

Case #2 - Manual time-zone selection 

If "Set time zone automatically" option is disabled, users must select the appropriate zone manually: 

  1. Open Settings > Time & language > Date & time. 

  2. Turn off Set time zone automatically, if it is enabled. 

  3. Under Time zone, select the applicable Windows display name:  (UTC-05:00) Manitoba for Manitoba. 

  4. Confirm that the displayed date and time are correct. 

Interim guidance when the update is unavailable 

Before the permanent time transition takes effect on November 1st, 2026, the existing seasonal zones continue to provide the expected current offset. In cases where the monthly update cannot be received or installed before 1st of November, affected organizations with devices in Manitoba are advised to use the following workarounds: 

After November 1st, 2026, we suggest using the below fixed-offset alternatives only as temporary workarounds: 

Affected area 

Existing choice before the transition 

Temporary choice after the transition 

Manitoba 

(UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) (Central Standard Time) 

(UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) (Eastern Standard Time) ¹ 

¹ After switching to Eastern Time, disable "automatic DST adjustments" option to lock the offset at UTC-05:00.

  • Go to Settings > Time & language > Date & time. → Select toggle "Adjust for daylight saving time automatically" to Off. 
  • Re-enable this setting once the October 2026 Windows security update with Manitoba Standard Time is installed. 

Note: Because Manitoba is on Central Daylight Time (CDT = UTC-05:00) through November 1st, users may apply the Eastern Time and disable DST workaround at any point before the transition. The offset will be correct both before and after the fact. 

These alternatives provide the required UTC offset but have different names, geographic mappings, and historical rules. They should not be treated as permanent replacements. 

We recommend installing the latest Windows monthly update and moving to the appropriate region-specific time zone as soon as possible.

Updated Oct 27, 2026
Version 5.0

7 Comments

  • calendarjunkie's avatar
    calendarjunkie
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 14, 2026

    I see the new time zone in Windows and Outlook classic but importing an iCalendar file with TZID:America/Winnipeg and a valid VTIMEZONE definition still imports using the US rules.  Is that a known issue?  Is a different TZID being used. New BC and Alberta imports work as expected.  Sample ics below.

    BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Manitoba
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Winnipeg
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Winnipeg
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20071104T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;UNTIL=20251102T070000Z;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20070311T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;UNTIL=20261101T070000Z;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:Central Time
DTSTART:20261101T020000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Monthly Manitoba
DTSTART;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20261014T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20261014T100000
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:FALSE
RRULE:FREQ=MONTHLY;UNTIL=20271015T000000Z;INTERVAL=1
LAST-MODIFIED:20261014T133217Z
CREATED:20261014T133300Z
DTSTAMP:20261014T133217Z
UID:asdgfapdsgawsrdf
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
  • JamesEpp's avatar
    JamesEpp
    Iron Contributor
    Oct 14, 2026

    Why is "SupportsDaylightSavingTime" set to true in the new timezone and why is the offset -6? Shouldn't it have no support for daylight time and simply permanent -5?

    PS C:\> Get-TimeZone | fl *

Id                         : Manitoba Standard Time
HasIanaId                  : False
DisplayName                : (UTC-05:00) Manitoba
StandardName               : Manitoba Standard Time
DaylightName               : Manitoba Daylight Time
BaseUtcOffset              : -06:00:00
SupportsDaylightSavingTime : True

PS C:\>

    The offset when applied works but seems like an odd decision. Is this just downstream of whatever's in the IANA database?

    According to the Official Time Act (Manitoba) coming into force October 31, there is no "Manitoba Daylight Time". Just "Manitoba Standard Time".

    S.M. 2023, c. 4

  • StaceyLymer97's avatar
    StaceyLymer97
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 08, 2026

    Hi there what about the changes to Northwest Territories - when will their time zone be released. It was in the TZ 2026D release. Will it be incorporated with the Manitoba release given its TZ 2026e?

  • DarkAlmanNet's avatar
    DarkAlmanNet
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 07, 2026

    This is a relief, thank you.

    Any guidance for legacy systems?

  • JamesEpp's avatar
    JamesEpp
    Iron Contributor
    Oct 07, 2026

    This is very welcome news. Thank you to the MSFT teams for putting this together on short notice.

    A lingering question I have is what does this mean for cloud services such as Microsoft 365 (Exchange), Dynamics 365, etc?

    I was already exploring bulk methods to update the timezone for all users to a different timezone that reflects permanent UTC-5.

    I assume that the timezone "Central Time (US & Canada)" will not be getting any updates, so admins of cloud services still need to take action. Is this true?

    • PeteSchmuland's avatar
      PeteSchmuland
      Copper Contributor
      Oct 08, 2026

      Hey James,

      Once the new zone has been implemented in Exchange Online something like:  

      Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox | Set-MailboxRegionalConfiguration -TimeZone "Manitoba Standard Time"

      Should be sufficient.

      • JamesEpp's avatar
        JamesEpp
        Iron Contributor
        Oct 08, 2026

        Hiya, Pete. :)

        Yeah I don't doubt that will be the case and the Set-MailboxRegionalConfiguration cmdlet (plus the other cmdlet for working hour timezones) is what I'm looking to use.

        My (implied) question for Microsoft is more when this is going to happen, as it's not necessarily the case that all tenants get the update at the same time.

        See you on the 20th.