diff --git a/scripts/docker/setup.sh b/scripts/docker/setup.sh
index 3f35fc0adce8..809d1967bf3b 100755
--- a/scripts/docker/setup.sh
+++ b/scripts/docker/setup.sh
@@ -409,9 +409,16 @@ contains_disallowed_chars() {
   [[ "$value" == *$'\n'* || "$value" == *$'\r'* || "$value" == *$'\t'* ]]
 }
 
-is_valid_timezone() {
+is_valid_timezone_in_image() {
   local value="$1"
-  [[ -e "/usr/share/zoneinfo/$value" && ! -d "/usr/share/zoneinfo/$value" ]]
+  docker run --rm --network none --entrypoint node "$IMAGE_NAME" -e '
+const timezone = process.argv[1];
+try {
+  new Intl.DateTimeFormat("en", { timeZone: timezone }).format(0);
+} catch {
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+' "$value"
 }
 
 validate_mount_path_value() {
@@ -497,9 +504,6 @@ if [[ -n "$TIMEZONE" ]]; then
   if [[ ! "$TIMEZONE" =~ ^[A-Za-z0-9/_+\-]+$ ]]; then
     fail "OPENCLAW_TZ must be a valid IANA timezone string (e.g. Asia/Shanghai)."
   fi
-  if ! is_valid_timezone "$TIMEZONE"; then
-    fail "OPENCLAW_TZ must match a timezone in /usr/share/zoneinfo (e.g. Asia/Shanghai)."
-  fi
 fi
 
 mkdir -p "$OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR"
@@ -782,6 +786,10 @@ else
   fi
 fi
 
+if [[ -n "$TIMEZONE" ]] && ! is_valid_timezone_in_image "$TIMEZONE"; then
+  fail "OPENCLAW_TZ must be supported by $IMAGE_NAME (e.g. Asia/Shanghai)."
+fi
+
 # Ensure bind-mounted data directories are writable by the container's `node`
 # user (uid 1000). Host-created dirs inherit the host user's uid which may
 # differ, causing EACCES when the container tries to mkdir/write.
diff --git a/test/scripts/test-install-sh-docker.test.ts b/test/scripts/test-install-sh-docker.test.ts
index bb470a1796e3..de0148da6681 100644
--- a/test/scripts/test-install-sh-docker.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/test-install-sh-docker.test.ts
@@ -71,6 +71,54 @@ function extractInstallE2eInstallerFunction(): string {
   return script.slice(start, end);
 }
 
+function extractDockerTimezoneValidator(): string {
+  const script = readFileSync(DOCKER_SETUP_PATH, "utf8");
+  const match = script.match(
+    /(is_valid_timezone_in_image\(\) \{[\s\S]*?\n\})\n\nvalidate_mount_path_value/u,
+  );
+  if (!match) {
+    throw new Error("Docker timezone validator was not found");
+  }
+  return expectDefined(match[1], "Docker timezone validator capture");
+}
+
+function runDockerTimezoneValidator(timezone: string) {
+  const root = tempDirs.make("openclaw-docker-timezone-");
+  const binDir = join(root, "bin");
+  const dockerPath = join(binDir, "docker");
+  mkdirSync(binDir, { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(
+    dockerPath,
+    [
+      "#!/bin/bash",
+      "set -euo pipefail",
+      'while [[ "$#" -gt 0 && "$1" != "-e" ]]; do shift; done',
+      'exec "$HOST_NODE" "$@"',
+      "",
+    ].join("\n"),
+    { mode: 0o755 },
+  );
+
+  return spawnSync(
+    "bash",
+    [
+      "--noprofile",
+      "--norc",
+      "-c",
+      `${extractDockerTimezoneValidator()}\nIMAGE_NAME=openclaw:test\nis_valid_timezone_in_image "$TIMEZONE"`,
+    ],
+    {
+      encoding: "utf8",
+      env: {
+        HOME: root,
+        HOST_NODE: process.execPath,
+        PATH: `${binDir}:${process.env.PATH ?? ""}`,
+        TIMEZONE: timezone,
+      },
+    },
+  );
+}
+
 function runInstallE2eInstallerFixture(params: {
   curlExitCode?: number;
   installTag: string;
@@ -904,6 +952,25 @@ printf 'status=%s\\n' "$status"
     expect(script).not.toContain('docker pull "$IMAGE_NAME"');
   });
 
+  it("validates Docker timezones against the selected image runtime", () => {
+    for (const timezone of ["Asia/Shanghai", "UTC", "US/Pacific"]) {
+      const result = runDockerTimezoneValidator(timezone);
+      expect(result.stderr).toBe("");
+      expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+    }
+
+    for (const timezone of ["zone.tab", "iso3166.tab", "Factory", "localtime"]) {
+      const result = runDockerTimezoneValidator(timezone);
+      expect(result.status).toBe(1);
+    }
+
+    const script = readFileSync(DOCKER_SETUP_PATH, "utf8");
+    expect(script).not.toContain("/usr/share/zoneinfo");
+    expect(script).toContain(
+      'fail "OPENCLAW_TZ must be supported by $IMAGE_NAME (e.g. Asia/Shanghai)."',
+    );
+  });
+
   it("bounds Podman setup image pulls", () => {
     const script = readFileSync(PODMAN_SETUP_PATH, "utf8");