Changing the maximum duration of a scan (Acunetix On-Premises only)

The default maximum scan duration is 48 hours. This document shows you how to change the maximum scan duration in Acunetix On-Premises for network scans only targets and regular targets, and how to extend the maximum scan duration for a scan that is already running.

IMPORTANT: Before changing the maximum scan duration setting, consider that long-running scans are often an indication that:

  • Some of your target settings may need optimization
  • Your target web application may be incorrectly configured
  • Your target web application may contain some errors that cause the crawl or scan stages to proceed for a very long time unnecessarily

How to change the maximum scan duration

Follow the relevant instructions below to change the maximum scan duration for your future network scans only targets and for your regular targets.

TIP: There is no upper limit to the maximum scan duration. Therefore, you can change the max_scan_time settings to whichever duration you prefer.   

Network scans only targets

To change the maximum scan duration from the default 48 hours:

  1. Open the settings.ini file from the relevant location:
  • Windows: C:\ProgramData\Acunetix\settings.ini
  • Linux: /home/acunetix/.acunetix/wvs.ini
  1. Add (or edit) the max_scan_time.ovas.generic= setting to the required number of minutes. In the example below, the maximum scan duration is changed to 96 hours, which is equivalent to 5760 minutes.

max_scan_time.ovas.generic=5760

  1. For the change to take effect, restart Acunetix.

When the restart is complete, any new scans of network scans only targets can run for the new maximum number of minutes you specified.

Regular targets

To change the maximum scan duration from the default 48 hours:

  1. Open the settings.ini file from the relevant location:
  • Windows: C:\ProgramData\Acunetix\settings.ini
  • Linux: /home/acunetix/.acunetix/wvs.ini
  1. Add (or edit) the max_scan_time settings to the required number of minutes. In the example below, the maximum scan duration is changed to 96 hours, which is equivalent to 5760 minutes

max_scan_time.wvs.generic=5760

max_scan_time.ovas.generic=5760

  1. For the changes to take effect, restart Acunetix.

When the restart is complete:

  • The network part of your scans can now run for the new maximum number of minutes you specified.
  • The web vulnerability part of your scans can now run for the new maximum number of minutes you specified.

NOTE: If you haven't configured a Network Scanner in your Acunetix installation, then the max_scan_time.ovas.generic setting will have no effect since no network scan will be performed.

How to extend the maximum scan duration for existing scans

It is also possible to change the maximum scan duration settings to extend the running time of existing scans. If you have a scan that is about to reach the default 48-hour limitation, follow the steps below:

  1. Pause the existing scan.
  2. Perform the settings changes described above.
  3. Restart Acunetix for the changes to take effect.
  4. Resume the paused scan.


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