diff --git a/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFConnectionIT.cs b/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFConnectionIT.cs
index fe9419939..a01439125 100644
--- a/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFConnectionIT.cs
+++ b/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFConnectionIT.cs
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ public void TestLoginWithMaxRetryReached()
         {
             using (IDbConnection conn = new MockSnowflakeDbConnection())
             {
-                string maxRetryConnStr = ConnectionString + "maxHttpRetries=5";
+                string maxRetryConnStr = ConnectionString + "maxHttpRetries=5"; // Will be set to the minimum allowed value of 7
 
                 conn.ConnectionString = maxRetryConnStr;
 
@@ -435,11 +435,11 @@ public void TestLoginWithMaxRetryReached()
                 }
                 stopwatch.Stop();
 
-                // retry 5 times with starting backoff of 1 second
-                // but should not delay more than the max possible seconds after 5 retries
-                // and should not take less time than the minimum possible seconds after 5 retries
-                Assert.Less(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 79 * 1000);
-                Assert.GreaterOrEqual(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 1 * 1000);
+                // retry 7 times with starting backoff of 1 second
+                // but should not delay more than the max possible seconds after 7 retries
+                // and should not take less time than the minimum possible seconds after 7 retries
+                Assert.Less(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 164 * 1000);
+                Assert.GreaterOrEqual(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 1.9 * 1000);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFDbCommandIT.cs b/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFDbCommandIT.cs
index 6e92c0aac..cdc6baeb1 100755
--- a/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFDbCommandIT.cs
+++ b/Snowflake.Data.Tests/IntegrationTests/SFDbCommandIT.cs
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ public void TestExecuteAsyncWithMaxRetryReached()
 
             using (DbConnection conn = new MockSnowflakeDbConnection(mockRestRequester))
             {
-                string maxRetryConnStr = ConnectionString + "maxHttpRetries=5";
+                string maxRetryConnStr = ConnectionString + "maxHttpRetries=5"; // Will be set to the minimum allowed value of 7
 
                 conn.ConnectionString = maxRetryConnStr;
                 conn.Open();
@@ -169,10 +169,10 @@ public void TestExecuteAsyncWithMaxRetryReached()
                 }
                 stopwatch.Stop();
 
-                // retry 5 times with backoff 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 seconds
+                // retry 7 times with backoff 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 16, 16 seconds
                 // but should not delay more than another 16 seconds
-                Assert.Less(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 51 * 1000);
-                Assert.GreaterOrEqual(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 30 * 1000);
+                Assert.Less(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 83 * 1000);
+                Assert.GreaterOrEqual(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 62 * 1000);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -639,7 +639,7 @@ public void TestExecuteWithMaxRetryReached()
 
             using (IDbConnection conn = new MockSnowflakeDbConnection(mockRestRequester))
             {
-                string maxRetryConnStr = ConnectionString + "maxHttpRetries=5";
+                string maxRetryConnStr = ConnectionString + "maxHttpRetries=5"; // Will be set to the minimum allowed value of 7
 
                 conn.ConnectionString = maxRetryConnStr;
                 conn.Open();
@@ -660,10 +660,10 @@ public void TestExecuteWithMaxRetryReached()
                 }
                 stopwatch.Stop();
 
-                // retry 5 times with backoff 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 seconds
+                // retry 7 times with backoff 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 16, 16 seconds
                 // but should not delay more than another 16 seconds
-                Assert.Less(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 51 * 1000);
-                Assert.GreaterOrEqual(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 30 * 1000);
+                Assert.Less(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 83 * 1000);
+                Assert.GreaterOrEqual(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, 62 * 1000);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/Snowflake.Data.Tests/UnitTests/Session/SFHttpClientPropertiesTest.cs b/Snowflake.Data.Tests/UnitTests/Session/SFHttpClientPropertiesTest.cs
index 72421f588..f1d0ba5f1 100644
--- a/Snowflake.Data.Tests/UnitTests/Session/SFHttpClientPropertiesTest.cs
+++ b/Snowflake.Data.Tests/UnitTests/Session/SFHttpClientPropertiesTest.cs
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ public static IEnumerable<PropertiesTestCase> PropertiesProvider()
                 {
                     validateDefaultParameters = true,
                     clientSessionKeepAlive = false,
-                    timeoutInSec = 0,
+                    timeoutInSec = SFSessionHttpClientProperties.s_retryTimeoutDefault,
                     insecureMode = false,
                     disableRetry = false,
                     forceRetryOn404 = false,
diff --git a/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSession.cs b/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSession.cs
index e39370f19..ae8e19286 100755
--- a/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSession.cs
+++ b/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSession.cs
@@ -159,12 +159,12 @@ internal SFSession(
             try
             {
                 var extractedProperties = propertiesExtractor.ExtractProperties(properties);
+                extractedProperties.CheckPropertiesAreValid();
                 var httpClientConfig = extractedProperties.BuildHttpClientConfig();
                 ParameterMap = extractedProperties.ToParameterMap();
                 InsecureMode = extractedProperties.insecureMode;
                 _HttpClient = HttpUtil.Instance.GetHttpClient(httpClientConfig);
                 restRequester = new RestRequester(_HttpClient);
-                extractedProperties.CheckPropertiesAreValid();
                 connectionTimeout = extractedProperties.TimeoutDuration();
                 properties.TryGetValue(SFSessionProperty.CLIENT_CONFIG_FILE, out var easyLoggingConfigFile);
                 _easyLoggingStarter.Init(easyLoggingConfigFile);
diff --git a/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSessionHttpClientProperties.cs b/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSessionHttpClientProperties.cs
index f129de25a..41f75f5b3 100644
--- a/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSessionHttpClientProperties.cs
+++ b/Snowflake.Data/Core/Session/SFSessionHttpClientProperties.cs
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ internal void CheckPropertiesAreValid()
             }
 
             // Use the shorter timeout between CONNECTION_TIMEOUT and RETRY_TIMEOUT
-            if (retryTimeout < timeoutInSec)
+            // but only if retry timeout is not set to infinite
+            if (retryTimeout < timeoutInSec && retryTimeout > 0)
             {
                 timeoutInSec = retryTimeout;
             }