Windows 95 TCP Clients Run Out of Ports

 Last reviewed: June 30, 1997
Article ID: Q170791
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release versions 1, 2, 2.1

SYMPTOMS

When you are running programs in Windows 95 that use excessive numbers of TCP ports (more than 3976 simultaneously), Windows may run out of TCP ports before the TCP/IP protocol releases closed connections.

CAUSE

The TCP/IP state dictates that when a connection is closed, the connection is not released until two maximum segment lives (MSLs) have passed. This state is defined as the TIME-WAIT state. One MSL is defined as 120 seconds, and it takes four minutes for a closed connection to be released in TCP/IP.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows 95 and OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2). An update to address this problem is now available, but is not fully regression tested and should be applied only to computers experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft does not recommend implementing this update at this time. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for additional information about the availability of this update.

Additional query words: 95
Keywords : kbnetwork osr1 osr2 win95 kbfixlist
Version : 95
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: June 30, 1997
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