diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index d3346d2a1d..7f561116d3 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ answer newbie questions, and generally made Django that much better:
     Andy Dustman <farcepest@gmail.com>
     Clint Ecker
     Enrico <rico.bl@gmail.com>
+    Marc Fargas <telenieko@telenieko.com>
     favo@exoweb.net
     Eric Floehr <eric@intellovations.com>
     gandalf@owca.info
diff --git a/django/conf/__init__.py b/django/conf/__init__.py
index daf5ad766a..021ecc8131 100644
--- a/django/conf/__init__.py
+++ b/django/conf/__init__.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ a list of all possible variables.
 """
 
 import os
+import time     # Needed for Windows
 from django.conf import global_settings
 
 ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE = "DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"
@@ -105,8 +106,10 @@ class Settings(object):
                 new_installed_apps.append(app)
         self.INSTALLED_APPS = new_installed_apps
 
-        # move the time zone info into os.environ
-        os.environ['TZ'] = self.TIME_ZONE
+        if hasattr(time, 'tzset'):
+            # Move the time zone info into os.environ. See ticket #2315 for why
+            # we don't do this unconditionally (breaks Windows).
+            os.environ['TZ'] = self.TIME_ZONE
 
     def get_all_members(self):
         return dir(self)
diff --git a/django/conf/project_template/settings.py b/django/conf/project_template/settings.py
index a44bc172f0..4fc03c809b 100644
--- a/django/conf/project_template/settings.py
+++ b/django/conf/project_template/settings.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ DATABASE_PORT = ''             # Set to empty string for default. Not used with
 
 # Local time zone for this installation. All choices can be found here:
 # http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/datetime-keywords.html#DATETIME-TIMEZONE-SET-TABLE
+# If running in a Windows environment this must be set to the same as your
+# system time zone.
 TIME_ZONE = 'America/Chicago'
 
 # Language code for this installation. All choices can be found here:
diff --git a/docs/settings.txt b/docs/settings.txt
index cdf440ed6b..ee9b5875a0 100644
--- a/docs/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/settings.txt
@@ -827,6 +827,11 @@ manual configuration option (see below), Django will *not* touch the ``TZ``
 environment variable, and it'll be up to you to ensure your processes are
 running in the correct environment.
 
+.. note::
+    Django cannot reliably use alternate time zones in a Windows environment.
+    When running Django on Windows this variable must be set to match the
+    system timezone.
+
 URL_VALIDATOR_USER_AGENT
 ------------------------