How to Increase Shutdown Time for Services to Close Properly

The WaitToKillServiceTimeout value name in the registry allows you to specify a length of time that the service control manager must wait for services to complete the shut-down request.

Note: In Windows NT versions 3.1 and 3.5, you can shut down all services in 20 seconds.

This is true for the Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition cache file, as parts of the file may be in memory at shutdown time and when you consider the large size of ISA Server cache files (several Gigabytes) it is possible to encounter this kind of corruption. ISA Server has built in mechanisms to recover data, but you can avoid this situation by increasing the timeout period that occurs before shutdown.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To specify the wait time, do the following:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) and locate the following Registry subkey in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree:
   \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
2. On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
3. Enter the following:
   Value Name: WaitToKillServiceTimeout
   Data Type: REG_SZ
   String:<In milli-seconds; default is 20,000>
   NOTE: Try not to increase the shut-down time. For example, if you lose power, it is possible that your uninterruptible power supply cannot provide backup power for the computer long enough to allow all the services to shut down properly, as well as the operation aystem.
4. Click OK and then quit Registry Editor.
5. Shut down, and then restart Windows.