diff --git a/include/lassospkit_session_file.inc.php b/include/lassospkit_session_file.inc.php
index d0919e9..8f3fe0d 100644
--- a/include/lassospkit_session_file.inc.php
+++ b/include/lassospkit_session_file.inc.php
@@ -5,9 +5,15 @@ require_once('lassospkit_debug.inc.php');
 
 
 class LassoSPKitSessionFile {
+    function setcookie($session, $timeout) {
+        static $done = 0;
+        if ($done == 0) {
+            $done = 1;
+            $LassoSPKitSessionFile_cookiename = 'lassospkit_file_' . LassoSPKitConfig::get('cookiename');
+            setcookie($LassoSPKitSessionFile_cookiename, $session->id, time()+$timeout, '/');
+        }
+    }
     function retrieve($session, $timeout) {
-        $LassoSPKitSessionFile_cookiename = 'lassospkit_file_' . LassoSPKitConfig::get('cookiename');
-
         $content = null;
         if (isset($_COOKIE[$LassoSPKitSessionFile_cookiename])) {
             $session->id = $_COOKIE[$LassoSPKitSessionFile_cookiename];
@@ -26,8 +32,8 @@ class LassoSPKitSessionFile {
         }
         if (! $content) {
             $session->id = md5("lasso" . rand());
-            setcookie($LassoSPKitSessionFile_cookiename, $session->id, time()+3600, '/');
         }
+        LassoSPKitSessionFile::setcookie($session, $timeout);
         return $content;
     }
     function store($session, $content) {
@@ -37,7 +43,6 @@ class LassoSPKitSessionFile {
                 lassospkit_errlog("cannot write into " . lassospkit_datadir() . "/cookie_session_" . $session->id);
             }
         }
-
     }
     function delete($session) {
         $filepath = lassospkit_datadir() . "/cookie_session_" . $session->id;