How to change timezone in vega simulator

Vega Open Beta Q&A
1

App Name: Fubo
App Link on Amazon Appstore (found through Developer Console > Actions column in App List > View on Amazon.com): Your App Link

Trying to set the timezone for vega simulator.

  1. Run Simulator
  2. Open Terminal
  3. Run the following command: vega exec vda shell
  4. Try to change timezone to New York: vdcm set com.amazon.devconf/system/configuration/time-zone 'America/New_York'

Receive error:

Could not set value for 'com.amazon.devconf/system/configuration/time-zone': No permission for operation

The previously resolution in this post no longer works to set permissions as it applies to kepler. There’s currently no list of steps to follow to set permissions on the files that would need to be changed. What are the instructions for vega simulator?

Active SDK Version: 0.22.5850
Vega CLI Version: 1.2.16

4

Hi @cspadanuta

The Vega simulator has a read-only filesystem, so you cannot permanently change the system timezone.
Instead, use the TZ environment variable:

To temporarily check timezone:
vega device run-cmd -c "export TZ=America/New_York && date"

To set timezone for your app launch:
vega device run-cmd -c "export TZ=America/New_York && your-app-launch-command"

Common timezone examples:

  • America/Los_Angeles (PST/PDT)
  • America/New_York (EST/EDT)
  • Europe/London (GMT/BST)
  • Asia/Kolkata (IST)
  • UTC

Note: The vdcm set command for timezone configuration requires system permissions that are not available in the simulator environment. The TZ environment variable approach is the recommended workaround for development and testing purposes.

Warm regards,
Ivy

5

This is a hassle to have to run that command every time I launch the app on the simulator. Previously the permissions were available to change for kepler simulator, so this seems like a step back to me. It used to be that setting the timezone once on the simulator would set it permanently (at least until we had to upgrade the SDK). This is the same case with real hardware, we can change the timezone and it will remain set, so not sure I understand why this is a limitation for the simulator.

Screenshot 2026-01-27 11-44-28
Screenshot 2026-01-27 11-44-281920×1080 54.8 KB

I would hope you guys consider changing it to bring it back in line with what was possible for the kepler simulator, cause it doesn’t really make sense to me that there would be limiting permissions set on something I’m running on my own machine anyway.

6

I tried what you suggested and it does not work…

vega device run-cmd -c "export TZ=America/New_York && vega device launch-app -a com.fubo_development.firetv.screen.main -d VirtualDevice"
Vega operation FAILED due to an irrecoverable error: Failed: /bin/sh: vega: command not found

Additional logs can be found at /Users/chrisspadanuta/vega/sdk/vega-sdk/main/0.22.5875/logs

In the logs:

2026-01-27 14:48:50 error [DeviceManagerHandler]: Shell command failed: export TZ=America/New_York && vega device launch-app -a com.fubo_development.firetv.screen.main -d VirtualDevice
Error: /bin/sh: vega: command not found

I can run the vega command just fine from the terminal, so there’s something about running vega in the way you specified that does not work:

vega --version
Active SDK Version: 0.22.5875
Vega CLI Version: 1.2.16
7

Hello @cspadanuta ,

Thank you for your patience and for bringing this to our attention. I’ve reviewed your reports and identified a typo in the command. My apologies for the confusion.

The correct command is:
vega device run-cmd -c “export TZ=America/New_York” && vega device launch-app -a com.fubo_development.firetv.screen.main -d VirtualDevice

Please let us know if you encounter any further issues. We appreciate your feedback regarding the timezone setting mechanism and recognize the current gap in the experience. I’ve shared your feedback with the team for internal discussion as we evaluate potential improvements to the developer workflow.

8

That does not work either. I receive this error when running the command:

vega device run-cmd -c “export TZ=America/New_York” && vega device launch-app -a com.fubo_development.firetv.screen.main -d VirtualDevice

Error:

Vega operation FAILED due to an irrecoverable error: Failed: /bin/sh: “export: command not found

Additional logs can be found at /Users/chrisspadanuta/vega/sdk/vega-sdk/main/0.22.5875/logs
9

Hey @cspadanuta

Kindly allow us some time to look into this error again and try to help you.

Warm regards,
Ivy