diff --git a/internal/timeout/timeout.go b/internal/timeout/timeout.go
index eaf39fa513..1c6e5fbb0d 100644
--- a/internal/timeout/timeout.go
+++ b/internal/timeout/timeout.go
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ var (
 
 	// TestDRetryLoop is the timeout for testd retry loop when onlining a SCSI disk in LCOW
 	TestDRetryLoop = defaultTimeoutTestdRetry
+
+	// This timeout is used for GCS connection after uvm boot as well as the entropy
+	// and log connection setup during uvm boot. This is different than the
+	// SystemStart timeout defined above.
+	GCSConnectionTimeout = 2 * time.Minute
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -60,6 +65,7 @@ func init() {
 	ExternalCommandToStart = durationFromEnvironment("HCSSHIM_TIMEOUT_EXTERNALCOMMANDSTART", ExternalCommandToStart)
 	ExternalCommandToComplete = durationFromEnvironment("HCSSHIM_TIMEOUT_EXTERNALCOMMANDCOMPLETE", ExternalCommandToComplete)
 	TestDRetryLoop = durationFromEnvironment("HCSSHIM_TIMEOUT_TESTDRETRYLOOP", TestDRetryLoop)
+	GCSConnectionTimeout = durationFromEnvironment("HCSSHIM_TIMEOUT_GCSCONNECTION", GCSConnectionTimeout)
 }
 
 func durationFromEnvironment(env string, defaultValue time.Duration) time.Duration {
diff --git a/internal/uvm/start.go b/internal/uvm/start.go
index 9ab8a9bdd5..b73143e0a9 100644
--- a/internal/uvm/start.go
+++ b/internal/uvm/start.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/Microsoft/hcsshim/internal/logfields"
 	"github.com/Microsoft/hcsshim/internal/protocol/guestrequest"
 	"github.com/Microsoft/hcsshim/internal/protocol/guestresource"
+	"github.com/Microsoft/hcsshim/internal/timeout"
 	"github.com/Microsoft/hcsshim/internal/uvm/scsi"
 )
 
@@ -157,7 +158,9 @@ func (uvm *UtilityVM) configureHvSocketForGCS(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 func (uvm *UtilityVM) Start(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 	// save parent context, without timeout to use in terminate
 	pCtx := ctx
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(pCtx, 2*time.Minute)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(pCtx, timeout.GCSConnectionTimeout)
+	log.G(ctx).Debugf("using gcs connection timeout: %s\n", timeout.GCSConnectionTimeout)
+
 	g, gctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
 	defer func() {
 		_ = g.Wait()