Changing NTFS Last Access Time Stamps in Windows

In Windows and other systems, files and folders are time stamped time each time they were last accessed. This writing of the stamp to each folder and file can take valuable resources or time, especially when writing and reading to and from Platter Drives (HDD), USB drives and other slower devices. As this is more of a legacy feature it can be turned off to help your system perform better. This is how you would do it in Windows 10.

You will be using the system command ‘Fsutil’ to achieve what you need using the command line in Windows ‘Powershell’.

There are two types of command for this; ‘User Mode’ and ‘System Mode’. System mode NTFS can enable or disable the Last Access during the boot up sequence. User mode the status of the Last Access isn’t modified by the system during the boot and will stay enabled or disabled as set.

The options are;

0 – User Managed, Last Access time updates are enabled

1 – User Managed, Last Access time updates are disabled (This option is the recommended option)

2 – System Managed, Last Access time updates are enabled (This is the default setting)

3 – System Managed, Last Access time updates are disabled

Please note: Administrator rights are required to enable or disable the Last Access Time stamp on any system.

Now the very first thing we are going to see what the system is already set to by copying and pasting this command into Windows Powershell. Note the query tag as we are not changing anything with this first command.

Open up ‘Windows Powershell (Admin)’ by right clicking the start button and selecting the option.

fsutil behavior query disablelastaccess

Now you know what the setting is already you make make the choice of setting and implementing it on your system. Copy and paste one of the below commands into Windows Powershell and press enter. See list above for what each option means.

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 0

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 2

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 3

Once you have applied the setting all that is left to do is restart the computer which will allow the settings to be applied. Once restarted you can check they have been applied by running the original command again.

fsutil behavior query disablelastaccess

If you require the original setting back just use the default command listed above and then restart your machine.