diff --git a/ext2/src/fs.rs b/ext2/src/fs.rs
index 2900cba4c8..c8b33222b3 100644
--- a/ext2/src/fs.rs
+++ b/ext2/src/fs.rs
@@ -716,6 +716,20 @@ impl<'a> Ext2<'a> {
 
     /// Walks through `src_dir` and copies directories and files to the new file system.
     fn copy_dirtree<P: AsRef<Path>>(&mut self, arena: &'a Arena<'a>, src_dir: P) -> Result<()> {
+        // Update the root directory's metadata with the metadata of `src_dir`.
+        let root_inode_num = InodeNum::new(2).expect("2 is a valid inode number");
+        let group_id = self.group_num_for_inode(root_inode_num);
+        let gm = &mut self.group_metadata[group_id];
+        let inode: &mut &mut Inode = gm
+            .inode_table
+            .get_mut(&root_inode_num)
+            .expect("root dir is not stored");
+        let metadata = src_dir
+            .as_ref()
+            .metadata()
+            .with_context(|| format!("failed to get metadata of {:?}", src_dir.as_ref()))?;
+        inode.update_metadata(&metadata);
+
         self.copy_dirtree_rec(arena, InodeNum(2), src_dir)
     }
 
diff --git a/ext2/src/inode.rs b/ext2/src/inode.rs
index 48234d16bd..29dda22d68 100644
--- a/ext2/src/inode.rs
+++ b/ext2/src/inode.rs
@@ -173,13 +173,13 @@ impl InodeBlock {
 #[derive(Default, Debug, Copy, Clone, FromZeroes, FromBytes, AsBytes)]
 pub(crate) struct Inode {
     mode: u16,
-    _uid: u16,
+    uid: u16,
     pub size: u32,
     atime: u32,
     ctime: u32,
     mtime: u32,
     _dtime: u32,
-    _gid: u16,
+    gid: u16,
     pub links_count: u16,
     pub blocks: InodeBlocksCount,
     _flags: u32,
@@ -192,8 +192,8 @@ pub(crate) struct Inode {
     _fragment_num: u8,
     _fragment_size: u8,
     _reserved1: u16,
-    _uid_high: u16,
-    _gid_high: u16,
+    uid_high: u16,
+    gid_high: u16,
     _reserved2: u32,
 }
 
@@ -278,10 +278,10 @@ impl Inode {
             atime: now,
             ctime: now,
             mtime: now,
-            _uid: uid_low,
-            _gid: gid_low,
-            _uid_high: uid_high,
-            _gid_high: gid_high,
+            uid: uid_low,
+            gid: gid_low,
+            uid_high,
+            gid_high,
             ..Default::default()
         };
         Ok(inode)
@@ -319,8 +319,8 @@ impl Inode {
 
         *inode = Inode {
             mode,
-            _uid: uid_low,
-            _gid: gid_low,
+            uid: uid_low,
+            gid: gid_low,
             size,
             atime,
             ctime,
@@ -328,16 +328,29 @@ impl Inode {
             links_count,
             blocks,
             block,
-
-            _uid_high: uid_high,
-            _gid_high: gid_high,
-
+            uid_high,
+            gid_high,
             ..Default::default()
         };
 
         Ok(inode)
     }
 
+    pub fn update_metadata(&mut self, m: &std::fs::Metadata) {
+        self.mode = m.mode() as u16;
+
+        let uid: u32 = m.uid();
+        self.uid_high = (uid >> 16) as u16;
+        self.uid = uid as u16;
+        let gid = m.gid();
+        self.gid_high = (gid >> 16) as u16;
+        self.gid = gid as u16;
+
+        self.atime = m.atime() as u32;
+        self.ctime = m.ctime() as u32;
+        self.mtime = m.mtime() as u32;
+    }
+
     pub fn typ(&self) -> Option<InodeType> {
         InodeType::n((self.mode >> 12) as u8)
     }
diff --git a/ext2/tests/tests.rs b/ext2/tests/tests.rs
index 1e77c699dd..2b55fe3366 100644
--- a/ext2/tests/tests.rs
+++ b/ext2/tests/tests.rs
@@ -236,6 +236,8 @@ fn test_simple_dir() {
     );
 
     assert_eq_dirs(&td, &dir, &disk);
+
+    td.close().unwrap(); // make sure that tempdir is properly deleted.
 }
 
 #[test]