How can I increase the time that services have to shut down?

A. By default, the OS allows services 20 seconds to stop before it forcefully halts them. For services that have a large amount of information in memory (e.g., Internet Security and Acceleration—ISA—Server 2000), 20 seconds might not be enough time. To increase the time the system allows, perform the following steps:

1. Start regedit.exe.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control.
3. Double-click WaitToKillServiceTimeout.
4. Set this value to the desired wait time in milliseconds—60000 is 1 minute.
5. Click OK.
6. Close regedit.
7. Reboot the machine.

Note that this value applies to ALL services, so setting it to a longer interval might slow your computer's shut down: if a service doesn't shut down correctly, it will have a longer time before the OS halts it.