Windows rejects changes in a file

Question

Environment Details: Windows 7 Ultimate, Service Pack 1

Windows rejects changes I made in a file. Let's say I created a file today, which is March 7, 2017, and wrote some content. Now, I changed my system date to an earlier date, let say Sept 1, 2015. Now when I am trying to write into the file. Windows rejects the changes and when I open a file, it shows me only the content which was there before changing the system time.

Can someone explain its significance? And what is its real time purpose? I understand it's a hypothetical thing that time would never go back, but there might be some purpose from Microsoft to follow this approach.
Also, if possible, please explain how it might have been implemented?

Maybe a [XY problem](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem)?. Related: [How can I change the timestamp on a file?](http://superuser.com/questions/292630/how-can-i-change-the-timestamp-on-a-file) — JosefZ, Mar 08 '17 at 07:50
I cannot reproduce this problem. What error message are you getting? — DavidPostill, Mar 08 '17 at 12:32
@DavidPostill whats your environment? did you followed the same steps? — Vishrant, Mar 09 '17 at 00:26
@Vishrant Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Yes, same steps. I was able to edit and change the file successfully after changing the date backwards. — DavidPostill, Mar 09 '17 at 08:53
@DavidPostill make sure you create a file in present date and save it into disk, then change the date and then reopen the file and try changing it again. — Vishrant, Mar 09 '17 at 17:15
and btw my environment is `Windows 7 Ultimate, Service Pack 1` — Vishrant, Mar 09 '17 at 17:16
@DavidPostill not sure, but I am able to reproduce it in my OS. — Vishrant, Mar 09 '17 at 17:22

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 08 '17 at 12:01

I might overshoot completely, but since NTFS(the filesystem that Windows uses for its boot disk) uses some kind of timestamps to record changes in its files, there must be a problem with that.

A timestamp is there to show at which time the file was created or when the changes to it were made. Through a parsing bug or intentional feature, this may render the file creation or change invalid, if the date of the access is before the file creation or change, meaning that the file might not shop up in the file explorer or the changes might not seem to have been applied. Though it might sound unreasonable, this can be used to determine what the state of the system was like, before some errors occured. So, should you experience a new kind of error, you can just rewind the clock and see what files were like at the time when everything worked fine and find out which files or changes might have caused the problems.

I'm pretty sure something like this is the case, but don't quote me on that :D

Windows rejects changes in a file

1 Answers1