diff --git a/src/bootstrap.php b/src/bootstrap.php
index ffa41336..952b695b 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap.php
+++ b/src/bootstrap.php
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ define('PSM_USER_ADMIN', 10);
 define('PSM_USER_USER', 20);
 define('PSM_USER_ANONYMOUS', 30);
 
+if(function_exists('date_default_timezone_set') && function_exists('date_default_timezone_get')) {
+	date_default_timezone_set(@date_default_timezone_get());
+}
+
 // find config file
 $path_conf = PSM_PATH_SRC . '../config.php';
 if(file_exists($path_conf)) {
diff --git a/src/psm/Module/Install/Controller/InstallController.class.php b/src/psm/Module/Install/Controller/InstallController.class.php
index 6444641d..f332960f 100644
--- a/src/psm/Module/Install/Controller/InstallController.class.php
+++ b/src/psm/Module/Install/Controller/InstallController.class.php
@@ -103,6 +103,9 @@ class InstallController extends AbstractController {
 			$errors++;
 			$this->addMessage('The PDO MySQL driver needs to be installed.', 'error');
 		}
+		if(!ini_get('date.timezone')) {
+			$this->addMessage('You should set a timezone in your php.ini file (e.g. \'date.timezone = UTC\'). See <a href="http://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php" target="_blank">this page</a> for more info.', 'warning');
+		}
 
 		if($errors > 0) {
 			$this->addMessage($errors . ' error(s) have been encountered. Please fix them and refresh this page.', 'error');