How can I modify TCP retransmission timeout?

A. Service Pack 5 adds a new registry entry, InitialRtt, which allowsthe retransmission time to be modified. The range is 0 - 65535 milliseconds andcan be set as follows:

This parameter controls the initial retransmission timeout used by TCP oneach new connection. It applies to the connection request (SYN) and to the firstdata segment(s) sent on each connection.

Care should be used when adjusting this value. Setting it to large valueswill dramatically increase the amount of time that it takes for a TCP connectionattempt to fail, if the target IP address does not exist.

For instance, the default value is 3,000, or 3 seconds. By default, aconnection request is retried 2 times. The total time-out is (3+6+12) seconds,or 21 seconds.

If this registry value is set to 6,000 (6 seconds), the total timeout will be(6+12+24) seconds, or 42 seconds. During this time, an application can appear tostop responding (hang).