I have a number laptops that run our application while connected to each other in pairs with an ethernet cable, but not connected to any external network or the internet. T
I need the connected pair to synchronize their system times, but since every computer needs to be able to synch with any other computer, I can't define one computer to be a time-server and the other to be a client.
Is there a way to do this with NTP? Or some other way?
You can use special software for synchronization, for example ClockSynchro. Network may be not connected ro internet. Contains ClockSynchroServer and CkockSynchroClient. This program is easy for install and use. http://clocksynchro.com On Windows 7 you must run ClockSynchroClient with adminisrtrator permitions ("Run as Administrator")
NET TIME is the way to go. If you do NET TIME \computername /SET it will ask you to confirm if you want to set the time. Just "assign" one of your systems to be the master.
Maybe you can use the Windows Time Service Tools with the manualpeerlist options?
See another article here: How to configure an authoritative time server in Windows Server
You can use NET TIME command to synchronize time between two computers.
Windows also has a NTP server, just look in Windows Components (or wherever depending on win-version).