Allowing non-admin users to change the time zone setting

In Mac OS X, a user who isn’t an administrator cannot change the time zone setting in System Preferences without authorization. In this advanced article, learn how an administrator can use Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later to change the /etc/authorization file so that a non-admin user can adjust the time zone setting.

Please note that this will not affect other settings in the Date and Time preferences or other secured System Preferences settings.

Important: This article contains instructions for editing the /etc/authorization file and is only intended for use by system administrators who are familiar with editing configuration files in a command-line interface. Misconfiguring this file can cause issues, including preventing any user from logging in. Be sure that you make a back up of the /etc/authorization file before editing it.

To grant time zone setting access to a non-admin user, do this:

Make sure that you’ve updated to Mac OS X 10.4.3.
Open the /etc/authorization file in a text editor.
Locate the text that makes up the system.preferences.accounts right; it looks like this (in its entirety):

system.preferences.accounts

allow-root

class
user
comment
This right is checked by the Admin framework when making changes to the accounts preference pane
group
admin
shared
Below this block of text (immediately below the tag), add the following section of text:

system.preferences.dateandtime.changetimezone

class
allow
comment
This right is used by DateAndTime preference to allow any user to change the system timezone.
shared

Please note that the “This right is used by…” string does not include a line break; make sure that you enter it all on one line.
Save the file.