How to Modify 2-Digit to 4-Digit Year Conversion Century Window

ID: Q244664

This article discusses a Beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this Beta product. For information about obtaining support for a Beta release, please see the documentation included with the Beta product files, or check the Web location from which you downloaded the release.
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Site Server version 3.0
  • Microsoft Site Server version 3.0, Commerce Edition
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

In Site Server, there are several four-digit year fields that accept two digits. For example, an administrator can input a two-digit year when setting the group membership expiration on a user. Becuase Site Server stores all dates in four-digit year format, it must choose the century to convert the two-digit year to four digits. While Site Server properly maintains any four-digit date that is entered, this article defines how Site Server 3.0 chooses the century information when users input two-digit dates.


MORE INFORMATION

Many features in Site Server 3.0 use OLE Automation for two-digit to four-digit year conversion. OLE Automation uses the Operating System settings to determine the break point for the 100 year century date window. By default, all Windows operating systems use 30 as the break point between the 20th and 21st centuries. For instance, entering 29 converts to 2029, whereas entering 30 converts to 1930. For more information, please see the following Microsoft World Wide Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/year2k/product/user_view67698EN.htm
You can modify the century window on Windows 2000 and Windows 98 computers through the Control Panel Regional Options by clicking the Date tab, and then choosing Calendar.

On Windows NT systems, you can adjust the century window by modifying the registry.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

  1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).


  2. Locate the following key in the registry:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International


  3. On the Edit menu, click Add Key, and then add the following registry key:
    Calendars


  4. Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\Calendars add the following registry key:
    TwoDigitYearMax


  5. Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\Calendars\TwoDigitYearMax, on the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
    Value Name:1
    Data Type:REG_SZ
    Value:20XX (where XX is the last two digits you want interpreted as 21st century)


  6. Quit Registry Editor.


  7. Restart the computer.



For more information about how Microsoft products are affected by year 2000 (Y2K) issues, please see the following Microsoft World Wide Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/year2000/

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbWinOS2000
Version : winnt:3.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type :


Last Reviewed: November 4, 1999
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