Getting to see the analog clock in Windows 10/11

The analogue clock is supposedly no more in Windows 11, and probably also in Windows 10: Only the clock app icon has an analogue face, but that's kinda it for this app.

Downloading an app from Microsoft Store is one option. Installing Linux over Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to run something like xclock is yet another option, but would take plenty of storage and a lot of additional RAM memory.

And what if Microsoft Store cannot be accessed for whatever reason, and Linux-over-WSL cannot be installed? Parts of Linux are not always easy for beginners either. Or what if one doesn't want to download an app, in pursuit of a built-in solution native to Windows?

So, there is a thing called the Date and Time Control Panel applet, which does have an analog clock. It has no dark theme, unfortunately.

Over the years, this applet has been reworked a few times, but it has always shown an analog clock since Windows 95. Windows 3.1 and earlier had a dedicated clock program. Between Windows 95 and Windows XP, the applet could usually be accessed by double-clicking the clock in the taskbar.

Windows Vista introduced a very nice analog clock widget, which I think carried over to Windows 7. I don't know if this widget was ever present in Windows 8/8.1.

The applet's filename is timedate.cpl, and it's located in the System32 folder, the typical address being

C:\Windows\System32\timedate.cpl

Getting to access it, or creating a shortcut to it depends on whether one has the necessary access privileges. On most computers at the private/consumer end, this is possible. In business and enterprise settings, a Windows system may be variously restricted per policies set or deployed by the company IT department, usually through group policy.

Open Control Panel, open Date and Time, and the analog clock is there.

For quick access, right-click on the Date and Time item, and click on Create shortcut. This will create a shortcut to the applet on the Windows desktop. The shortcut can then be renamed to whatever you like: "Analog clock", "Date and Time", or something else.

The desktop shortcut can then be copied to the Start menu, but cannot be moved there via drag-and-drop, and cannot be moved or pinned to the taskbar either.

The desktop shortcut can be copied to several locations.

To find out what those are, it's useful to investigate the locations of some of the Start menu shortcuts. Right-click on several to find out which of their context menus offer the Open file location command. This applies to shortcuts of non-UWP apps. Clicking on this command will open the folder where the shortcut is located at.

One of the more common locations is

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

— but copying a shortcut there may require User Account Control (UAC) confirmation.

Copying the shortcut to the Programs folder in the local user profile is more useful, as it has fewer restrictions, and is visible in the All apps section of the logged-on user's Start menu:

C:\Users\yourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Changes made in either folder will reflect in the All apps section of the Start menu. From there, one can right-click on the shortcut to pin it to Start from the context menu.