diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index a91fad1..e4bf86b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   msrv-backend-neutral:
-    name: MSRV backend-neutral crates
+    name: Pinned Rust backend-neutral crates
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 20
     env:
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@67ef31d5b988238dd797d409d6f9574278e20537
         with:
-          toolchain: 1.87.0
+          toolchain: 1.97.1
       - name: Test backend-neutral crates
         run: >
           cargo test
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@67ef31d5b988238dd797d409d6f9574278e20537
         with:
-          toolchain: 1.87.0
+          toolchain: 1.97.1
           components: clippy,rustfmt
       - name: Provision macOS Vulkan runtime
         shell: bash
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@67ef31d5b988238dd797d409d6f9574278e20537
         with:
-          toolchain: 1.87.0
+          toolchain: 1.97.1
       - uses: actions/download-artifact@d3f86a106a0bac45b974a628896c90dbdf5c8093
         with:
           pattern: native-smoke-*
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 018fe73..3e92b8a 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ members = [
 [workspace.package]
 version = "0.1.0"
 edition = "2021"
-rust-version = "1.87"
+rust-version = "1.97"
 license = "GPL-2.0-only"
 repository = "https://github.com/valentineus/fparkan"
 
diff --git a/apps/fparkan-vulkan-smoke/src/main.rs b/apps/fparkan-vulkan-smoke/src/main.rs
index 814d503..05c8f80 100644
--- a/apps/fparkan-vulkan-smoke/src/main.rs
+++ b/apps/fparkan-vulkan-smoke/src/main.rs
@@ -1076,7 +1076,7 @@ mod tests {
             git_dirty: false,
             runner_identity: "github-actions/12345/stage0-macos".to_string(),
             runner_architecture: "aarch64",
-            rust_toolchain: "1.87.0".to_string(),
+            rust_toolchain: "1.97.1".to_string(),
             target_triple: "aarch64-apple-darwin".to_string(),
             platform: "macos",
             status: "passed",
diff --git a/crates/fparkan-vfs/src/lib.rs b/crates/fparkan-vfs/src/lib.rs
index 68d812b..7adddf0 100644
--- a/crates/fparkan-vfs/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/fparkan-vfs/src/lib.rs
@@ -364,10 +364,14 @@ fn file_identity(metadata: &fs::Metadata) -> Option<u64> {
 #[cfg(windows)]
 #[allow(clippy::unnecessary_wraps)]
 fn file_identity(metadata: &fs::Metadata) -> Option<u64> {
+    // Stable Rust does not expose the Windows file index.  Keep a best-effort
+    // replacement detector from metadata that is available through the
+    // supported standard-library API; `read` also compares size and
+    // last-write time before returning bytes.
     Some(
-        (metadata.volume_serial_number() as u64).rotate_left(40)
-            ^ ((metadata.file_index_high() as u64) << 32)
-            ^ metadata.file_index_low() as u64,
+        metadata.creation_time().rotate_left(17)
+            ^ metadata.last_write_time().rotate_left(31)
+            ^ u64::from(metadata.file_attributes()).rotate_left(47),
     )
 }
 
diff --git a/rust-toolchain.toml b/rust-toolchain.toml
index f9cc44b..8addfa6 100644
--- a/rust-toolchain.toml
+++ b/rust-toolchain.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [toolchain]
-channel = "1.87.0"
+channel = "1.97.1"
 components = ["clippy", "rustfmt", "rust-docs"]
 targets = [
     "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu",
diff --git a/xtask/src/main.rs b/xtask/src/main.rs
index 647e43f..894c95e 100644
--- a/xtask/src/main.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/main.rs
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ const SUPPLY_CHAIN_POLICY_CONFIG: &str = "deny.toml";
 const REQUIRED_NATIVE_SMOKE_PLATFORMS: &[&str] = &["macos"];
 const APPROVED_REGISTRY_SOURCE: &str = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index";
 const SUPPLY_CHAIN_BANNED_PACKAGES: &[&str] = &["native-tls", "openssl", "openssl-sys"];
-const PINNED_RUST_TOOLCHAIN: &str = "1.87.0";
-const WORKSPACE_MSRV: &str = "1.87";
+const PINNED_RUST_TOOLCHAIN: &str = "1.97.1";
+const WORKSPACE_MSRV: &str = "1.97";
 const ALLOW_SUPPLY_CHAIN_FALLBACK_ENV: &str = "FPARKAN_ALLOW_SUPPLY_CHAIN_FALLBACK";
 
 fn workspace_root_path() -> PathBuf {
@@ -3156,8 +3156,8 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(json.contains("\"commit_sha\": \"0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567\""));
         assert!(json.contains("\"git_dirty\": false"));
         assert!(json.contains("\"runner_identity\": \"github-actions/12345/stage0-macos\""));
-        assert!(json.contains("\"rust_toolchain\": \"1.87.0\""));
-        assert!(json.contains("\"msrv\": \"1.87\""));
+        assert!(json.contains("\"rust_toolchain\": \"1.97.1\""));
+        assert!(json.contains("\"msrv\": \"1.97\""));
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -3410,7 +3410,7 @@ mod tests {
         fs::write(
             &manifest,
             format!(
-                "schema = 1\n\n[[corpus]]\nid = \"part1-local\"\nkind = \"part1\"\nroot = \"{}\"\nexpected_profile = \"parkan-is-part1\"\n\n[[corpus]]\nid = \"part2-local\"\nkind = \"part2\"\nroot = \"{}\"\nexpected_profile = \"parkan-is-part2\"\n",
+                "schema = 1\n\n[[corpus]]\nid = \"part1-local\"\nkind = \"part1\"\nroot = '{}'\nexpected_profile = \"parkan-is-part1\"\n\n[[corpus]]\nid = \"part2-local\"\nkind = \"part2\"\nroot = '{}'\nexpected_profile = \"parkan-is-part2\"\n",
                 part1.display(),
                 part2.display()
             ),
@@ -3538,7 +3538,7 @@ fparkan-render-vulkan = { path = "../../adapters/fparkan-render-vulkan" }
         .map_err(|err| err.to_string())?;
         fs::write(
             root.join("Cargo.toml"),
-            "[workspace]\n[workspace.package]\nrust-version = \"1.87\"\n",
+            "[workspace]\n[workspace.package]\nrust-version = \"1.97\"\n",
         )
         .map_err(|err| err.to_string())?;