Extend Session Time?

[Alx]

$currentTimeoutInSecs = ini_get('session.gc_maxlifetime');
echo("$currentTimeoutInSecs<br>");
ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', 4*60*60);
$currentTimeoutInSecs = ini_get('session.gc_maxlifetime');
echo("$currentTimeoutInSecs"); 

so the output would be
1440
14400
which theoretically means the session time should be extended however it is not.....

Users are uploading huge files which can take up to 2 hours so I need to extend the session time so it does not log them out. Any thoughts? Any idea why it is not working or some sort of alternative solution

[mick.dodd]

why not use session cookies and leave it blank in the login script then it will og them out when they close the browser not after a set time