FIX: Error message when you send an e-mail by using Database Mail in SQL Server 2005 or in SQL Server 2008: "The operation has timed out"

In Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008, you may receive the following error message when you send an e-mail by using Database Mail: 

However, you cannot configure the time-out value for Database Mail in SQL Server 2005 before you apply this cumulative update package.

Cumulative update information

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2

Important You must install this cumulative update package if your computer is running SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2.

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 13 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. For more information about this cumulative update package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2005 fix release. Microsoft recommends that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 hotfixes are created for specific SQL Server service packs. You must apply a SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. By default, any hotfix that is provided in a SQL Server service pack is included in the next SQL Server service pack.

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

Important You must install this cumulative update package if your computer is running SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3.

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 4 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3. For more information about this cumulative update package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2005 fix release. Microsoft recommends that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 hotfixes are created for specific SQL Server service packs. You must apply a SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3. By default, any hotfix that is provided in a SQL Server service pack is included in the next SQL Server service pack.

The release version of SQL Server 2008

Important You must install this cumulative update package if your computer is running the release version of SQL Server 2008.

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 6. For more information about how to obtain this cumulative update package for SQL Server 2008, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 fix release. We recommend that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Important You must install this cumulative update package if your computer is running SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1.

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. For more information about this cumulative update package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 fix release. Microsoft recommends that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 hotfixes are created for specific SQL Server service packs. You must apply a SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. By default, any hotfix that is provided in a SQL Server service pack is included in the next SQL Server service pack.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

After you apply this cumulative update package, a column is added to the sysmail_server table to track the time-out value in seconds. You can set the time-out value by using the sysmail_update_account_sp stored procedure for a specific SMTP server configuration.

For more information about the list of builds that are available after SQL Server Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the Incremental Servicing Model for SQL Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:For more information about how to obtain SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the new features and the improvements in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about the naming schema for SQL Server updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:For more information about the list of builds that are available after SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: