Change Date Format in Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows 10.

It’s kind of normal process most of the users want to change the date format in Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 computer after initial installation. If you are using different day-month format, then definitely this post would be helpful to modify as you want. Changing the date format from mm-dd-yyyy to dd-mm-yyyy in Windows 7 and later versions are not like earlier Operating Systems Windows Vista/ XP. Let us see how to change the date format from mm-dd-yyyy to dd-mm-yyyy in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

By default Windows OS including latest Windows 10, comes with MM-dd-yyyy format . If you are not using this format at your region then you must change it. The other programs on the same computer like Microsoft Office and email clients will be reading this regional date settings and display the date in same format. Unfortunately Microsoft doesn’t add dd-mm-yyyy or d-m-yyyy formats in the pre-built format column. We can manually enter the required format in advanced settings. Keep reading to find out more.

Important Note- This method is applicable for Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 10 servers too. You can use the same settings to change the date format in latest Windows servers.

Method to Change Date Format in Windows 7, 8.1 & Windows 10

The changes need to be done at Regional settings in Control panel. As you aware, the control panel can be accessed by different ways in each Operating System.

1) For Windows 7, its easy to access control panel. Windows 8.1 users can use the charm bar or search option, and Windows 10 users can follow below method.

Search for control panel in the new search of Windows 10 as below.

Even though the following screenshots had been taken from Windows 10, but the settings remain same for other Windows 7 and 8.1 OS’s.

2) Under Regional Settings (or Clock, Language, and Region), click on ‘Change date, time, or number formats’ as shown below.

3) In the opened screen, you can see the pre-defined date formats. Click the drop down button and see whether the format you are looking for is available. As I mentioned earlier, the dd-mm-yyyy format is not included in the list.

Click on ‘Additional settings’ to open another window which will allow to input our own format.

4) Here we can change the date format in Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, of course the Win 7 too. Under ‘Date’ tab, you can change the ‘Short date’ format. It will take your input. Make sure you are entering the correct format with notations. The meaning of notations available below.

Click Apply to save the settings.

I hope this guide would be helpful to change the date format on your Windows 10, 8.1 computer based on the required format by other programs and your region.