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Summary

TCP starts a retransmission timer when each outbound segment is handed down to IP. If no acknowledgment has been received for the data in a given segment before the timer expires, the segment is retransmitted, up to the TcpMaxDataRetransmissions value. The default value for this parameter is 5.

The retransmission timer is initialized to three seconds when a TCP connection is established. However, it is adjusted on the fly to match the characteristics of the connection by using Smoothed Round Trip Time (SRTT) calculations as described in RFC793. The timer for a given segment is doubled after each retransmission of that segment. By using this algorithm, TCP tunes itself to the normal delay of a connection. TCP connections that are made over high-delay links take much longer to time out than those that are made over low-delay links.

By default, after the retransmission timer hits 240 seconds, it uses that value for retransmission of any segment that has to be retransmitted. This can cause long delays for a client to time-out on a slow link.

For more information about the latest service pack for Windows 2000, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to obtain the latest Windows 2000 service pack

More Information

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
The TcpMaxDataRetransmissions registry value controls the number of times that TCP retransmits an individual data segment before it aborts the connection. This value is not configured by default, but it can be entered to change the default number of retries.

Change the following subkey in Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2008, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows 2003, and Windows XP:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

            
Value Name: TcpMaxDataRetransmissions
Data Type: REG_DWORD - Number
Valid Range: 0 - 0xFFFFFFFF
Default: 5

Description: This parameter controls the number of times TCP retransmits an individual data segment (non connect segment) before aborting the connection. The retransmission time-out is doubled with each successive retransmission on a connection. It is reset when responses resume. The base time-out value is dynamically determined by the measured round-trip time on the connection.

Windows provides a mechanism to control the initial retransmit time, and the retransmit time is then dynamically self-tuned. To change the initial retransmit time, modify the following registry values.

Change the following subkey in Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\ID for Adapter

            
Value Name: TCPInitialRtt
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Valid Range: 300-65535 (milliseconds in decimal)
Default: 0xBB8 (3000 milliseconds expressed in hexadecimal)

Description: This parameter controls the initial retransmission time-out that is used by TCP on each new connection. It applies to the connection request (SYN) and to the first data segments that is sent on each connection. For example, the value data of "5000 decimal" sets the initial retransmit time to five seconds.

NOTE: You can increase the value only for the initial time-out. Decreasing the value is not supported.

Change the following key in Windows NT 4.0:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

Value Name:  InitialRttData Type:   REG_DWORDValid Range: 0-65535 (decimal)Default:     0xBB8 (3000 decimal) 

Description: This parameter controls the initial retransmission time-out used by TCP on each new connection. It applies to the connection request (SYN) and to the first data segment(s) sent on each connection.

For example, the value data of "5000 decimal" sets the initial retransmit time to five seconds.

The Initial RTO in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 is can be controlled by using the NetSH command by initialRTO.

For prerequisites and more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2472264 You cannot customize some TCP configurations by using the netsh command in Windows Server 2008 R2

For more information about retransmit time, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

232512 TCP/IP may retransmit packets prematurely

223450 TCP Initial retransmission timer adjustment added to Windows NT

For more information, search the web for "RFC 793 (Section 3.7) TCP Protocol Specification."

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