Connecting to a Server is Slow over RAS Using LMHOSTS File

When you dial into a remote site, the initial attempt to connect to a server share point can take up to 90 seconds to complete.

If the name of the server being connected to is resolved by using the local LMHOSTS file, when attempting to connect, Windows NT must wait for the connection attempt over the local LAN to timeout before the connection over RAS is accepted. If you use the normal default TCP/IP values for TcpMaxConnectRetransmissions, it will take 90 seconds to time out.

This problem is not experienced if WINS or broadcast name resolution is used to locate the computer being connected to.

You can work around this problem by lowering the value of TcpMaxConnectRetransmissions. Setting this to a value of 1 reduces the delay to 18 seconds. However, lowering this value may cause problems when establishing a connection to a server over a slow link.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For your convenience, the English version of this post-SP3 hotfix has been posted to the following Internet location. However, Microsoft recommends that you install Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 to correct this problem.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.