PRB: Session.Timeout Has a Maximum of 24 Hours (233477)

SYMPTOMS

Setting the value of the Session.Timeout property to greater than 24 hours (1440 minutes) produces the following symptoms:

If you set Session.Timeout in an ASP script or in the Global.asa file, you see the following error messages:

- SessionID error 'ASP 0164 : 80004005'
Invalid TimeOut Value
/MyAsp.asp, line 2
An invalid TimeOut value was specified.

If you set the Script.Timeout value through either the Microsoft Management Console or directly in the metabase entry AspSessionTimeout, your Session variables are no longer valid when referenced after 24 hours.

RESOLUTION

To work around this time limitation, you would pass values from ASP page to ASP page either through QueryString parameters or as hidden FORM fields. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

175167 How to store state in Active Server Pages applications

157906 How to maintain state across pages with VBScript

MORE INFORMATION

To access the Session.Timeout value for the Web site, follow these steps:

Microsoft Windows 2000

Start Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
In the Internet Information Services window, expand the ServerName node, where ServerName is the name of the server.
Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Properties.
In the Default Web Site Properties dialog box, on the Home Directory tab, click Configuration.
In the Application Configuration dialog box, on the Options tab, the session timeout box displays the Session.Timeout value.

Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Start Internet Information Services Manager, or open the IIS snap-in.
In the Internet Information Services window, expand the ServerName node, where ServerName is the name of the server.
Expand the Web Sites node.
Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Properties.
In the Default Web Site Properties dialog box, on the Home Directory tab, click Configuration.
In the Application Configuration dialog box, on the Options tab, the session timeout box displays the Session.Timeout value.

Note If Internet Information Services 6.0 is installed on your computer, you can also view the Session.Timeout property value in the AspSessionTimeout property of the Metabase. The Metabase is a hierarchical store of IIS configuration information that is stored as an .xml file that is named MetaBase.xml. MetaBase.xml is located in the SystemRoot\System32\Inetsrv folder. Only users who are members of the Administrators group can view and can modify these files.