"Request timed out" when you try to upload a large file to a SharePoint Services 3.0 document library

Article
12/17/2023
Applies to:

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

You install Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
You configure a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 website to support large files.
You connect to the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 website.
You try to upload a large file to a document library.

In this scenario, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Request timed out.

Cause

This issue can occur if the file that you try to upload is over 50 megabytes (MB).

Resolution

To resolve this issue, use one or more of the following methods.

Method 1: Increase the maximum upload size

To increase the maximum upload size, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint Central Administration.
Click Application Management.
Under SharePoint Web Application Management, click Web application general settings.
On the Web Application General Settings page, click the web application that you want to change.
Under Maximum upload size, type the maximum file size in megabytes that you want, and then click OK. You can specify a maximum file size up to 2,047 megabytes.

Method 2: Increase the connection time-out setting

To increase the connection time-out setting, follow these steps:

Note

By default, the IIS connection time-out setting is 120 seconds.

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
Right-click the virtual server that you want to configure, and then click Properties.
Click the Web Site tab.
Under Connections, type the number of seconds that you want in the Connection time-out box, and then click OK.

Method 3: Add the executionTimeout value

Open the Web.config file in Notepad.

NOTE By default, this file is in the following location:Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS

Add the executionTimeout value that you want. For example, replace the value as follows.

Existing code

<location path="upload.aspx">   
 <system.web>   
   <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="2097151" />   
 </system.web>   
</location>

Replacement code

<location path="upload.aspx">   
 <system.web>   
   <httpRuntime executionTimeout="999999" maxRequestLength="2097151" />   
 </system.web>   
</location>

Click File, and then click Save.
Open the web application Web.config file in Notepad.

Note By default, this file is in the Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\VirtualDirectoryFolder folder.

Change the following line in the file.

Existing line

<httpRuntime maxRequestLength="51200" />

Replacement line

<httpRuntime executionTimeout="999999" maxRequestLength="51200" />

Click File, and then click Save.
Exit Notepad.

More Information

On a Windows Server 2008 computer that has only IIS 7.0 installations, you can add the maxAllowedContentLength value to resolve the issue that is described in the "Symptoms" section. However, you cannot upload files that are larger than 28 MB, even though you have configured the large file upload setting when you are running Windows SharePoint Services on a Windows Server 2008 based computer that has IIS 7.0 installed. Typically, you receive an error message that resembles one of the following:

The page cannot be displayed.
HTTP 404

To work around this problem, edit the <configuration> section in the Web.config file for the web application. To do this, follow these steps:

Open the web application Web.config file in Notepad.

Note By default, this file is in the Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\VirtualDirectoryFolder folder.
Increase the value of maxAllowedContentLength in the requestLimits node. For example, edit the file as follows to set this value to its maximum size:
```
<requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="52428800"/>
```
Note If your Web.config file does not already have the <requestLimits> node, you must add it in the correct position in the section hierarchy:
```
<configuration>  
<system.webServer>  
<security>  
<requestFiltering>  
<requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="52428800"/>  
</requestFiltering>  
</security>  
</system.webServer>  
</configuration>
```
Note We recommend that you set the maxAllowedContentLength value slightly larger than the maximum file upload size that you have configured in SharePoint. If the maxAllowedContentLength value is equal to or smaller than maximum file upload size that is configured in SharePoint, users will not receive the error message that they are exceeding the size limit if they try to upload a file size larger than that specified by the administrator.

References

For more information about the maxAllowedContentLength setting, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

942074 Error message when you visit a Web site that is hosted on a server that is running Internet Information Services 7.0: "HTTP Error 404.13 - CONTENT_LENGTH_TOO_LARGE"

More information

Still need help? Go to SharePoint Community.

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