INFO: Increasing the Transmission Retry Timeout for Printing (99801)

SUMMARY

The number of seconds for transmission retry timeout can be set through the Connect dialog box in the Printers application of the Control Panel. The entry in the Transmission Retry field is limited to 999 and is set individually for each printer. This limit cannot be increased. However, an application can increase the default transmission retry value up to 65536 by editing the TransmissionRetryTimeout value in the Windows section of WIN.ini. This setting takes effect when the Print Manager is disabled.

MORE INFORMATION

The TransmissionRetryTimeout entry in the Windows section of WIN.ini is the default retry value. It is limited to 65536 and resembles the following:

   [windows]
   TransmissionRetryTimeout=45

There is also a retry value for each printer in the PrinterPorts section of WIN.ini; it is limited to 999 and resembles the following (the format is "device=driver,port,DeviceTimeout,RetryTimeout"):

   [PrinterPorts]
   HP LaserJet IIISi=HPPCL5MS,FILE:,15,45
   HP LaserJet IIISi PostScript=pscript,FILE:,15,90

When the retry value for a particular printer is changed via the Control Panel, the value in the PrinterPorts section is changed. The Control Panel does not alter the value in the Windows section. The TransmissionRetryTimeout value in the Windows section must be changed manually by editing WIN.ini with a text editor or programmatically by calling a function such as WriteProfileString(). GetProfileInt() can be used to determine the current setting.

NOTE: Control Panel sets the default transmission retry value for the PostScript driver (PSCRIPT.drv) to twice the default value of other drivers.

The TransmissionRetryTimeout setting is used only if Print Manager is disabled. Otherwise, the RetryTimeout value listed in the PrinterPorts section for the current printer is used.

For more information about disabling Print Manager programmatically, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

print and manager and disable