How do I change the file creation date of a Windows file?

install pywin32 extension first https://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/Build%20221/

import win32file
import pywintypes

# main logic function
def changeFileCreateTime(path, ctime):
    # path: your file path
    # ctime: Unix timestamp

    # open file and get the handle of file
    # API: http://timgolden.me.uk/pywin32-docs/win32file__CreateFile_meth.html
    handle = win32file.CreateFile(
        path,                          # file path
        win32file.GENERIC_WRITE,       # must opened with GENERIC_WRITE access
        0,
        None,
        win32file.OPEN_EXISTING,
        0,
        0
    )

    # create a PyTime object
    # API: http://timgolden.me.uk/pywin32-docs/pywintypes__Time_meth.html
    PyTime = pywintypes.Time(ctime)

    # reset the create time of file
    # API: http://timgolden.me.uk/pywin32-docs/win32file__SetFileTime_meth.html
    win32file.SetFileTime(
        handle,
        PyTime
    )

# example
changeFileCreateTime('C:/Users/percy/Desktop/1.txt',1234567789)

I did not want to bring the whole pywin32 / win32file library solely to set the creation time of a file, so I made the win32-setctime package which does just that.

pip install win32-setctime

And then use it like that:

from win32_setctime import setctime

setctime("my_file.txt", 1561675987.509)

---

Basically, the function can be reduced to just a few lines without needing any dependency other that the built-in ctypes Python library:

from ctypes import windll, wintypes, byref

# Arbitrary example of a file and a date
filepath = "my_file.txt"
epoch = 1561675987.509

# Convert Unix timestamp to Windows FileTime using some magic numbers
# See documentation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/167296
timestamp = int((epoch * 10000000) + 116444736000000000)
ctime = wintypes.FILETIME(timestamp & 0xFFFFFFFF, timestamp >> 32)

# Call Win32 API to modify the file creation date
handle = windll.kernel32.CreateFileW(filepath, 256, 0, None, 3, 128, None)
windll.kernel32.SetFileTime(handle, byref(ctime), None, None)
windll.kernel32.CloseHandle(handle)

For advanced management (like error handling), see the source code of win32_setctime.py.

Yak shaving for the win.

import pywintypes, win32file, win32con
def changeFileCreationTime(fname, newtime):
    wintime = pywintypes.Time(newtime)
    winfile = win32file.CreateFile(
        fname, win32con.GENERIC_WRITE,
        win32con.FILE_SHARE_READ | win32con.FILE_SHARE_WRITE | win32con.FILE_SHARE_DELETE,
        None, win32con.OPEN_EXISTING,
        win32con.FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, None)

    win32file.SetFileTime(winfile, wintime, None, None)

    winfile.close()