Logoff Process May Not Be Completed Because Time-Out Is Too Slow

If you configure your Terminal Services server to end (reset) any idle or disconnected sessions after a certain amount of time, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• When you attempt to re-map a distributed file system (DFS) drive, you may be unable to do so, and you may receive the following error message:
  System error 85 has occurred. The local device name is already in use.
• Roaming profiles are not unloaded or written back.

When a session is reset by such an external event, the session is given three minutes to end all processes and to perform a "graceful" logoff process. If the time-out period of three minutes is exceeded, all processes (including Winlogon) are terminated. This may cause a problem in environments in which a typical logoff process may already take that long. Roaming profiles and logoff scripts may contribute to this time.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:
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.

After you install the hotfix, this time-out value is configurable. To extend the time-out, install the hotfix and then create the following registry value:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
   Value name: LogoffTimeout
   Data type: REG_DWORD
   Radix: Decimal
   Value data: Timeout in 2-second units (for example, a value of 120 is equivalent to four minutes)
   Do not set this value lower than 3 minutes. Also, do not use a high value (above 15 minutes) to deal with other time-out problems.
4. Quit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

For additional information about how to install Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfixes at the same time, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: