Pre-migration warnings are shown by Plesk Migrator: Failed to decrypt password of auxiliary user 'jdoe'. Password may be reset

Denis Pankov

Updated January 13, 2026 19:00

kb: technical ext: migrator Plesk Obsidian for Windows ABT: Group B Plesk Onyx for Windows

Applicable to:

Pre-migration warning is shown when migrating a site at Plesk > Tools & Settings > Migration & Transfer Manager:

PLESK_WARN: Failed to decrypt password of auxiliary user 'jdoe'. Password may be reset
Migration of the databases fails with the errors:

MySQL databases:

CONFIG_TEXT: Failed to copy content of database 'example_db'
Migration tools tried to perform operation in 3 attempts: Command execution failed on the source server 'source' (203.0.113.2) with non-zero exit code.
command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\MySQL\bin\mysqldump" -h localhost -P 3306 -uadmin -p***hidden*** example_db --result-file=C:\plesk_migrator\db_backup_example.com_example_db.sql --routines --events
exit code: 2
stdout:
stderr: mysqldump: [Warning] Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
mysqldump: Got error: 1045: Access denied for user 'admin'@'localhost' (using password: YES) when trying to connect

MSSQL databases:

CONFIG_TEXT: Failed to copy content of database 'Example_db'
...
Failed to execute SQL query: Login failed for user 'sa'. DB-Lib error message 18456, severity 14:
General SQL Server error: Check messages from the SQL Server
DB-Lib error message 20002, severity 9:
Adaptive Server connection failed
DB-Lib error message 18456, severity 14:

The following error can be found in the C:\plesk_migrator\rpc-agent\debug.log file in the Plesk (source) server:

CONFIG_TEXT: WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified
[DEBUG] parallels | Remove file 'C:\plesk_migrator\data.xml'
[DEBUG] parallels | Put contents to file 'C:\plesk_migrator\data.xml'
[DEBUG] parallels | Execute command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\bin\php" -dauto_prepend_file="" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\plib\cu\backup_encrypt.php" --decrypt-by-plesk -single-file C:\plesk_migrator\data.xml
[ERROR] parallels | Failed to execute received command for function 'sh_unchecked'
The file %plesk_dir%admin\bin\php.exe does not exist on the Plesk (source) server:

C:\> "%plesk_dir%admin\bin\php.exe" --version
The system cannot find the path specified.

The file %plesk_dir%admin\bin\php.exe file is missing from the Plesk source server.

Connect to the source server via RDP
Create the directory C:\plesksupport
Download the package plesk-engine.msi
1. Open Plesk for Windows repository
2. Find the package for the Plesk version in use and download file plesk-engine.msi:
  
  For example:
  - Plesk Onyx 17.8: https://autoinstall-win.plesk.com/PANEL-WIN_17.8.11/dist-windows/plesk-engine.msi
  - Plesk Obsidian 18.0.31: https://autoinstall-win.plesk.com/PANEL-WIN_18.0.31/dist-windows/plesk-engine.msi
Open CMD as administrator
Extract the files from the downloaded package into C:\plesksupport:

C:\> msiexec /a "C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\plesk-engine.msi" /qb TARGETDIR=C:\plesksupport
Copy the C:\plesksupport\Program Files\Plesk\admin\bin\php.exe into %plesk_dir%admin\bin directory;
Log into the target Plesk server
Go to Tools & Settings > Migration & Transfer Manager > 203.0.113.2 > click 'Reload source data'
Proceed with migration