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Connection attempt times out in 21 seconds regardless of the /timeout option.

The Windows TCP/IP stack has a system wide retry delay and retry count for the initial connection. The default settings result in an overall 21 second timeout. This timeout is not software configurable so the /timeout option is only for timeouts in the protocol stream after the initial connection is made.

For example, you could see this error message:

*Connect time-out expired. [1030]

Note that if you see this error message 21 seconds after the connection attempt is initiated, it usually means one of two things:

  1. The server is not there (not listening for connection attempts on the specified IP address and port).
  2. A firewall is blocking your connection attempt from reaching the server (sometimes this can mean you are temporarily locked out for too many failed connection attempts).

In most cases, you will need to contact the server administrator to determine why the server is not responding.

However, you can also try changing this time-out value for your system.

Instructions for changing this timeout system-wide can be found here up to Vista and Server 2008:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/170359/how-to-modify-the-tcp-ip-maximum-retransmission-time-out

For Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 or higher:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2786464/hotfix-enables-the-configuration-of-the-tcp-maximum-syn-retransmission-amount-in-windows-7-or-windows-server-2008-r2

Article last updated: 2021-01-22

Tags: Robo-FTP, timeout, FTPLOGON