Plesk or a website shows error 500 in a web browser: Module "PleskUrlProtectionModule" could not be found

Symptoms

• Plesk or a website is not accessible with a 500 Internal Server Error.

• With detailed error reporting enabled, one of the following error messages is showsn:

  PLESK_INFO: HTTP Error 500.0 - Internal Server Error Module "PleskUrlProtectionModule" could not be found

  PLESK_INFO: HTTP Error 500.0 - Internal Server Error Module "RewriteModule" could not be found

Cause

The IIS module, mentioned in the error message, is not declared in IIS configuration.

Resolution

1. Connect to your Plesk server via RDP.
2. Open C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\ in Windows Explorer.
3. For safety reasons, create a copy of the file applicationHost.config.
4. Open the original applicationHost.config file in a text editor and add the following line in the <globalModules> section:

   • for PleskUrlProtectionModule:

     CONFIG_TEXT: <add name="PleskUrlProtectionModule" image="%windir%\System32\inetsrv\pleskurlprotection.dll" />

   • for RewriteModule:

     CONFIG_TEXT: <add name="RewriteModule" image="%SystemRoot%\system32\inetsrv\rewrite.dll" />

5. Save the changes and close the file.
6. Start a command prompt as an Administrator.

7. Restart the IIS service to apply the changes:

   Note: Websites will be unavailable during the IIS service restart.

   C:\> iisreset