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Article ID : 314882
Last Review : October 19, 2004
Revision : 1.0
This article was previously published under Q314882
For a Microsoft Windows 2000 version of this article, see 122920.
SYMPTOMS
At a computer that is running Windows XP, when you attempt to connect
to another Windows XP computer, you may receive the following error
message:
No more connections can be made to this remote computer at this time
because there are already as many connections as the computer can
accept.
CAUSE
This behavior occurs if the computer reaches the maximum number of
inbound connections that the computer can host.
For Windows XP Professional, the maximum number of other computers
that are permitted to simultaneously connect over the network is ten.
This limit includes all transports and resource sharing protocols
combined. For Windows XP Home Edition, the maximum number of other
computers that are permitted to simultaneously connect over the
network is five.
This limit is the number of simultaneous sessions from other
computers the system is permitted to host. This limit does not apply
to the use of administrative tools that attach from a remote
computer.
MORE INFORMATION
Any file, print, named pipe, or mail slot session that does not have
any activity is automatically disconnected after the AutoDisconnect
time has expired; the default for the AutoDisconnect time is 15
minutes. When the session is disconnected, one of the ten connections
becomes available so that another user can connect to the Windows XP
system. Therefore, lowering the AutoDisconnect time can help to
reduce some of the problems that users may encounter with the ten-
connection limit or the five-connection limit on a system that is not
used heavily for server purposes.
You can configure the AutoDisconnect time by running the following
command from a command prompt:
net config server /autodisconnect:time_before_autodisconnect
Specify the time in minutes.
The Windows Server service is self-tuning; normally the server
configuration parameters are autoconfigured (calculated and set) each
time you start Windows XP. If you run net config server in
conjunction with the /autodisconnect, /servcomment or /hidden
options, the current values for the automatically tuned parameters
are displayed and written to the registry. After these parameters are
written to the registry, you cannot tune the Server service by using
the Networks tool in Control Panel. If you change any of the Server
service settings, Windows XP can no longer automatically tune the
Server service for your new configuration. To avoid losing the Server
service's automatic self-tuning capability, make the change through
Registry Editor instead from a command line or Control Panel Network.
All logical drive, logical printer, and transport level connections
combined from a single computer are considered to be one session;
therefore, these connections only count as one connection in the ten-
connection limit. For example, if a user establishes two logical
drive connections, two Windows sockets, and one logical printer
connection to a Windows XP system, one session is established. As a
result, there will be only one less connection that can be made to
the Windows XP system, even though three logical connections have
been established.
The only way system A will have multiple sessions to another system,
system Z, is if system A is running services that create logical
connections to system Z. For example, if a user is logged on to
system A as guest and a service is running on system A under the
user1 account, and both the user and the service (as user1) establish
connections to system Z, two sessions are established. Each logon
session that uses the Server service counts against the connection
limit.
Per development: The connection limit refers to the number of
redirector-based connections and is enforced for any file, print,
named pipe, or mail slot session. The TCP connection limit is not
enforced, but it may be bound by legal agreement to not permit more
than 10 clients.
APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition
