diff --git a/src/basic/copy.c b/src/basic/copy.c
index 46e02a3759..2f36c8eb87 100644
--- a/src/basic/copy.c
+++ b/src/basic/copy.c
@@ -743,7 +743,7 @@ int copy_file_fd_full(
 
         r = copy_bytes_full(fdf, fdt, (uint64_t) -1, copy_flags, NULL, NULL, progress_bytes, userdata);
 
-        (void) copy_times(fdf, fdt);
+        (void) copy_times(fdf, fdt, copy_flags);
         (void) copy_xattr(fdf, fdt);
 
         return r;
@@ -849,10 +849,9 @@ int copy_file_atomic_full(
         return 0;
 }
 
-int copy_times(int fdf, int fdt) {
+int copy_times(int fdf, int fdt, CopyFlags flags) {
         struct timespec ut[2];
         struct stat st;
-        usec_t crtime = 0;
 
         assert(fdf >= 0);
         assert(fdt >= 0);
@@ -866,8 +865,12 @@ int copy_times(int fdf, int fdt) {
         if (futimens(fdt, ut) < 0)
                 return -errno;
 
-        if (fd_getcrtime(fdf, &crtime) >= 0)
-                (void) fd_setcrtime(fdt, crtime);
+        if (FLAGS_SET(flags, COPY_CRTIME)) {
+                usec_t crtime;
+
+                if (fd_getcrtime(fdf, &crtime) >= 0)
+                        (void) fd_setcrtime(fdt, crtime);
+        }
 
         return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/basic/copy.h b/src/basic/copy.h
index f677021881..a33546d3ab 100644
--- a/src/basic/copy.h
+++ b/src/basic/copy.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ typedef enum CopyFlags {
         COPY_REPLACE     = 1 << 2, /* Replace an existing file if there's one */
         COPY_SAME_MOUNT  = 1 << 3, /* Don't descend recursively into other file systems, across mount point boundaries */
         COPY_MERGE_EMPTY = 1 << 4, /* Merge an existing, empty directory with our new tree to copy */
+        COPY_CRTIME      = 1 << 5, /* Generate a user.crtime_usec xattr off the source crtime if there is one, on copying */
 } CopyFlags;
 
 typedef int (*copy_progress_bytes_t)(uint64_t n_bytes, void *userdata);
@@ -57,5 +58,5 @@ static inline int copy_bytes(int fdf, int fdt, uint64_t max_bytes, CopyFlags cop
         return copy_bytes_full(fdf, fdt, max_bytes, copy_flags, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
 }
 
-int copy_times(int fdf, int fdt);
+int copy_times(int fdf, int fdt, CopyFlags flags);
 int copy_xattr(int fdf, int fdt);
diff --git a/src/boot/bootctl.c b/src/boot/bootctl.c
index dc2fd96628..323806a534 100644
--- a/src/boot/bootctl.c
+++ b/src/boot/bootctl.c
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ static int copy_file_with_version_check(const char *from, const char *to, bool f
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to copy data from \"%s\" to \"%s\": %m", from, t);
         }
 
-        (void) copy_times(fd_from, fd_to);
+        (void) copy_times(fd_from, fd_to, 0);
 
         if (fsync(fd_to) < 0) {
                 (void) unlink_noerrno(t);
diff --git a/src/import/export-raw.c b/src/import/export-raw.c
index 6a02b47a17..c1c946cd2b 100644
--- a/src/import/export-raw.c
+++ b/src/import/export-raw.c
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ static int raw_export_process(RawExport *e) {
 
 finish:
         if (r >= 0) {
-                (void) copy_times(e->input_fd, e->output_fd);
+                (void) copy_times(e->input_fd, e->output_fd, COPY_CRTIME);
                 (void) copy_xattr(e->input_fd, e->output_fd);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/import/import-raw.c b/src/import/import-raw.c
index 4b1161557d..56f3431a08 100644
--- a/src/import/import-raw.c
+++ b/src/import/import-raw.c
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ static int raw_import_finish(RawImport *i) {
                 return r;
 
         if (S_ISREG(i->st.st_mode)) {
-                (void) copy_times(i->input_fd, i->output_fd);
+                (void) copy_times(i->input_fd, i->output_fd, COPY_CRTIME);
                 (void) copy_xattr(i->input_fd, i->output_fd);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/import/pull-raw.c b/src/import/pull-raw.c
index 3a3e015df8..72b9054e49 100644
--- a/src/import/pull-raw.c
+++ b/src/import/pull-raw.c
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ static int raw_pull_make_local_copy(RawPull *i) {
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to make writable copy of image: %m");
         }
 
-        (void) copy_times(i->raw_job->disk_fd, dfd);
+        (void) copy_times(i->raw_job->disk_fd, dfd, COPY_CRTIME);
         (void) copy_xattr(i->raw_job->disk_fd, dfd);
 
         dfd = safe_close(dfd);
diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
index 14f251a277..5cb049e5f7 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
@@ -4400,7 +4400,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                                 goto finish;
                         }
 
-                        r = copy_file(arg_image, np, O_EXCL, arg_read_only ? 0400 : 0600, FS_NOCOW_FL, COPY_REFLINK);
+                        r = copy_file(arg_image, np, O_EXCL, arg_read_only ? 0400 : 0600, FS_NOCOW_FL, COPY_REFLINK|COPY_CRTIME);
                         if (r < 0) {
                                 r = log_error_errno(r, "Failed to copy image file: %m");
                                 goto finish;
diff --git a/src/shared/machine-image.c b/src/shared/machine-image.c
index af06ab22e8..3d61221056 100644
--- a/src/shared/machine-image.c
+++ b/src/shared/machine-image.c
@@ -870,7 +870,7 @@ int image_clone(Image *i, const char *new_name, bool read_only) {
         case IMAGE_RAW:
                 new_path = strjoina("/var/lib/machines/", new_name, ".raw");
 
-                r = copy_file_atomic(i->path, new_path, read_only ? 0444 : 0644, FS_NOCOW_FL, COPY_REFLINK);
+                r = copy_file_atomic(i->path, new_path, read_only ? 0444 : 0644, FS_NOCOW_FL, COPY_REFLINK|COPY_CRTIME);
                 break;
 
         case IMAGE_BLOCK: