Seconds Count Display Bug on Windows 10 Lock Screen

Today we are going to share another bug found in Windows 10. This bug is related to theLock Screen and the date/time displayed on it.

By default, Windows shows time in 12-hour format in Taskbar notification area (system tray), in Windows Explorer file details and on Lock Screen. But you can customize the time format using Regional Settings which can be accessed from Control Panel, from Settings app or by using intl.cpl command in RUN dialog box.

Once you open Regional Settings window, click on "Additional Settings" button and then go to "Time" tab. On this tab, you can customize short time format, long time format and AM/PM symbols as shown in following tutorials:

• How to Show Day and Month Names in System Tray Date in Windows
• How to Show AM / PM Symbols in System Tray Clock in Windows
• How to Customize AM and PM Symbols in System Tray Clock in Windows

By default the short time format is set to h:mm tt which shows hours in 12-hour format and doesn't show seconds. Long time format also shows hours in 12-hour format but also show seconds.

If you want to show hours in 24-hour format, you can replace h with H or HH. To show seconds in short time format, add :ss to the string i.e. replace h:mm tt with h:mm:ss tt.

Once you enable seconds display in short time format, it causes a bug on Windows 10 Lock Screen. As soon as you enable seconds in short time using Regional Settings window, lock the Desktop using WIN+L hotkey and you'll be surprised to see seconds display in the time shown on Lock Screen.

Its good that Windows 10 Lock Screen starts showing seconds count on time but the bug is, it doesn't refresh the seconds count. It remains unchanged as soon as you access the Lock Screen. It only changes when the minute count changes.

I noticed one thing! Seconds count is displayed on Lock Screen only when both short time format and long time format use same format for hours display. In other words, the Lock Screen will show seconds count only if either both short time format and long time format use 12-hour format or both use 24-hour format in Regional Settings window. If one format is set to use 12-hour format and the other is set to use 24-hour format, then Lock Screen will not show seconds count.

It doesn't happen on Windows 8/8.1. The Lock Screen on Windows 8/8.1 never shows seconds irrespective of seconds display is enabled or not in Regional Settings.

In my opinion, the same thing should happen in Windows 10 as well. It should never show seconds on Lock Screen because the constant second display on Lock Screen looks very odd.

The Taskbar clock in Windows OS never shows seconds and the same thing should apply to the Lock Screen.

So either the Lock Screen should refresh seconds count or it should never show the seconds.

Its not a big issue but definitely a bug in the OS which should be fixed in future Windows 10 builds.