Windows FileSetTime $FT_CREATED

[JeffAllenNJ]

Am I correct in assuming AutoIt cannot alter the creation timestamp of a windows file for security reasons?  i'm trying to FileCopy (and rename) thousands of spreadsheets to a new directory but I want to keep the file times.  FileSetTime works great for modified and accessed date but not for create date.  If this is a security violation, I suppose I can start over and use robocopy or something.

[Musashi]

1 hour ago, jaja714 said:

Am I correct in assuming AutoIt cannot alter the creation timestamp of a windows file for security reasons?

As far as I can tell, No . Take a look at _Date_Time_SetFileTime

I copied a file to another directory and was able to restore the original creation timestamp.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Musashi
typo

[JeffAllenNJ]

Unfortunately, _Date_Time_SetFileTime, needs a filehandle and, since I already copied the files not knowing about this alternate version of FileSetTime, _Date_Time_SetFileTime does not seem to be an option for me.

[TheXman]

FileSetTime, with $FT_CREATED, sets the create date just fine on my machine.  I just tested it on a Win7 box.  So if it doesn't work for you, then maybe there's an issue in your environment or your implementation.  Since you haven't shown the relevant code that you are using, it's REALLY hard to know why it may not be working for you.

Edited February 25, 2021 by TheXman

[JeffAllenNJ]

Maybe it is the fact that the files reside on a network share or something.  No worries, I just put the create timestamp in the actual filename as a workaround.

[Musashi]

27 minutes ago, TheXman said:

FileSetTime, with $FT_CREATED, sets the create date just fine on my machine.

Yes, I can confirm that (for the sake of completeness only  ). It is also easier to handle compared to _Date_Time_SetFileTime.

[Musashi]

44 minutes ago, jaja714 said:

Unfortunately, _Date_Time_SetFileTime, needs a filehandle ...

To get the handle(s) of the respective file(s) you can use _WinAPI_CreateFile . The function name (...CreateFile) is a bit misleading, because with the parameter $iCreation=2 an already existing file can be opened. By using the parameter $iAccess=4 the timestamps can be inserted.