RunAsDate, Run Programs With A Different System Date, Time

Martin Brinkmann
Nov 18, 2011
Software, Windows, Windows software
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10

You may know that I'm using the MSI Afterburner software to record game videos on my PC. The software has been in beta for quite some time. One issue I experienced is that the beta versions have fixed expiration dates, which means that they expire at a given point in time. While this is usually a non-issue considering that a new beta version has always been available when this happened, it may be a issue for users who do not have an always on Internet connection. And for some software, it may even make the program unusable if the developers fail to provide a new version in time.

RunAsTime is a lightweight portable software for Windows that can run applications in the date and time that you specify. Unlike other tools that change the system data and time for that, RunAsTime injects the desired date and time into the application directly without altering the system time. The application is made to believe that the system time is set to the selected date and time, when in fact it is not.

All options are displayed in the main application interface on startup.

run as date

Here you can select the application that you want to run in a different date and time and the desired date and time. It is optionally possible to add startup parameters to the program start. A click on Run starts the program with the selected date, time and parameters.

You can click on create desktop shortcut to create a desktop shortcut for that configuration. Handy if you need to start the program regularly. The program supports a second mode of operation called Immediate Mode. This mode injects the data and time directly without waiting for the kernel to be fully loaded. This may fix problems with applications who get the real system time and not the time configured in RunAsDate. Some applications on the other hand may crash when Immediate Mode is used.

Like many other Nirsoft applications, RunAsDate can be launched from the command line. The supported parameters are the following ones:

RunAsDate.exe {/immediate} {/movetime} [dd\mm\yyyy] {hh:mm:ss} [Program to run] {Program parameters}

RunAsDate does not work on all Windows programs. It is only compatible with 32-bit applications and won't affect applications that get the time from a secondary source.

Windows users can download RunAsDate from the official Nirsoft website.

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Comments

  1. monty said on June 12, 2012 at 8:16 pm
    Reply

    how can i run runasdate as a service ?
    I can start it with ex.:

    if i replace with regedit the existing service with :
    c:\runasdate.exe 12\11\2011 00:00:00 “c:\service_program.exe”

    the service_program is running (ok, checked with taskmanager)
    but because runasdate.exe returns an exit code or something, my original service still has status “stopped” while it’s running.
    How can i trick the service in making it believe it is started ?

    Or can you change runasdate.exe that it will run forever (no exit) for services (with /key for example) ?

    If i just simply enter :
    c:\runasdate.exe
    as the service program, I get runasdate GUI on service startup, if I then select the original service .exe file and start it, everything works great (service is “started”)

    thx in advance,

    monty

  2. aba said on November 22, 2011 at 7:37 pm
    Reply

    this doesn’t work with the latest msi afterburner beta

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on November 22, 2011 at 7:59 pm
      Reply

      They probably release a new beta before it expires.

  3. jSwann0 said on November 19, 2011 at 1:05 pm
    Reply

    Merci beaucoup, Martin Brinkmann.

  4. Robert Palmar said on November 19, 2011 at 2:52 am
    Reply

    That did seem odd earlier but apparently now
    Nir Sofer has updated and changed the description.

  5. Q said on November 18, 2011 at 8:36 pm
    Reply

    It looks like after a couple of years, the RunAsDate application has finally been updated. Thanks for the notice.

    Also, there is a version that should work on 64-bit applications. It seems that Nir Sofer might have left erroneous information in the Limitations section on the RunAsDate web page on its website. I have not tested the 64-bit version.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on November 18, 2011 at 8:42 pm
      Reply

      I noticed this as well but did not have time to test so I left it out.

  6. Robert Palmar said on November 18, 2011 at 7:09 pm
    Reply

    Another winner from Nir Sofer.
    His software never disappoints.
    Thanks for the heads up, Martin.

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