diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 38bcdd6f6..ea3c70c7a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "unic-ucd-category",
  "unicase",
  "unicode-normalization",
+ "utime",
  "windows 0.56.0",
  "wiremock",
  "zip",
@@ -6421,6 +6422,16 @@ version = "0.2.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "06abde3611657adf66d383f00b093d7faecc7fa57071cce2578660c9f1010821"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "utime"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "91baa0c65eabd12fcbdac8cc35ff16159cab95cae96d0222d6d0271db6193cef"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "uuid"
 version = "1.10.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8d3c0052b..6d86959f0 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ ninja_gen = { "path" = "build/ninja_gen" }
 
 # pinned
 unicase = "=2.6.0" # any changes could invalidate sqlite indexes
+utime = "=0.3.1" # marked as deprecated, but no native solution for folder mtimes exists
 
 # normal
 ammonia = "4.0.0"
diff --git a/cargo/licenses.json b/cargo/licenses.json
index 83bbcf653..911b0944c 100644
--- a/cargo/licenses.json
+++ b/cargo/licenses.json
@@ -4238,6 +4238,15 @@
     "license_file": null,
     "description": "Incremental, zero-copy UTF-8 decoding with error handling"
   },
+  {
+    "name": "utime",
+    "version": "0.3.1",
+    "authors": "Hyeon Kim <simnalamburt@gmail.com>",
+    "repository": "https://github.com/simnalamburt/utime",
+    "license": "Apache-2.0 OR MIT",
+    "license_file": null,
+    "description": "A missing utime function for Rust."
+  },
   {
     "name": "uuid",
     "version": "1.10.0",
diff --git a/rslib/Cargo.toml b/rslib/Cargo.toml
index 1c4abf46f..fb14826b4 100644
--- a/rslib/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rslib/Cargo.toml
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ tracing-subscriber.workspace = true
 unic-ucd-category.workspace = true
 unicase.workspace = true
 unicode-normalization.workspace = true
+utime.workspace = true
 zip.workspace = true
 zstd.workspace = true
 
diff --git a/rslib/io/src/lib.rs b/rslib/io/src/lib.rs
index c6a6a0c51..f9ee9758a 100644
--- a/rslib/io/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rslib/io/src/lib.rs
@@ -53,9 +53,10 @@ pub fn write_file(path: impl AsRef<Path>, contents: impl AsRef<[u8]>) -> Result<
         op: FileOp::Write,
     })
 }
-/// See [File::set_times].
+/// See [File::set_times]. Note that this won't work on folders.
 pub fn set_file_times(path: impl AsRef<Path>, times: FileTimes) -> Result<()> {
-    open_file(&path)?.set_times(times).context(FileIoSnafu {
+    let file = open_file_ext(&path, OpenOptions::new().write(true).to_owned())?;
+    file.set_times(times).context(FileIoSnafu {
         path: path.as_ref(),
         op: FileOp::SetFileTimes,
     })
diff --git a/rslib/src/sync/media/database/client/changetracker.rs b/rslib/src/sync/media/database/client/changetracker.rs
index 2d2220c7c..7f9b3f3cd 100644
--- a/rslib/src/sync/media/database/client/changetracker.rs
+++ b/rslib/src/sync/media/database/client/changetracker.rs
@@ -239,13 +239,11 @@ where
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod test {
     use std::fs;
-    use std::fs::FileTimes;
     use std::path::Path;
     use std::time;
     use std::time::Duration;
 
     use anki_io::create_dir;
-    use anki_io::set_file_times;
     use anki_io::write_file;
     use tempfile::tempdir;
 
@@ -259,10 +257,13 @@ mod test {
     fn change_mtime(p: &Path) {
         let mtime = p.metadata().unwrap().modified().unwrap();
         let new_mtime = mtime - Duration::from_secs(3);
-        let times = FileTimes::new()
-            .set_accessed(new_mtime)
-            .set_modified(new_mtime);
-        set_file_times(p, times).unwrap();
+        let secs = new_mtime
+            .duration_since(time::UNIX_EPOCH)
+            .unwrap()
+            .as_secs() as i64;
+        // we rely on an external crate, as Rust's File::set_times() does not work
+        // on directories
+        utime::set_file_times(p, secs, secs).unwrap();
     }
 
     #[test]