One of Plesk services fails to start: Error 193: 0xc1 Service fails to start

Symptoms

• When trying to start a service using the Services Management Console (services.msc), one of the following error messages is displayed:

  CONFIG_TEXT: Error 193: 0xc1 Service fails to start

  ---

  CONFIG_TEXT: %1 is not a valid Win32 application. (Error code 193) at StartService 'MELCS'
  at (service::startService line 211)
  at startService(MELCS)(service::startService line 27

• In some cases, Plesk Backup Manager is not accessible:

  CONFIG_TEXT: Cannot create process: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Parallels\\Plesk\\python\\python.exe "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Parallels\\Plesk\\admin\\bin\\PMMcli-runner.py" --get-tasks-list
  at (wmain line 63)
  at Unable to execute Python script(wmain line 86)
  Execute file name: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Parallels\\Plesk\\admin\\bin\\PMMcli.exe

• A file, or folder Program is present in the root of the drive where Plesk is installed:

  PS if (Test-Path ((Get-Item $env:plesk_dir).PSDrive.Root + "Program")) { Write-Host "File/folder C:\Program exists" }
  File/folder C:\Program exists

Cause

A file with the name "Program" exists in the System drive (C:) or the drive, where Plesk is installed.

When the Microsoft Service Control Manager launches a service, it checks the path to the executable. If there are any files with the same name in the directory as the the first word in the directory name, it will fail with the above error.

Resolution

1. Connect to the Plesk server via RDP.

2. Make sure that there is no file with the name Program in the root of the System drive (C:) or drive, where Plesk is installed. If such file exists, go to  Start > Windows PowerShell and rename it, for example, to Old-Program:

   PS Rename-Item "C:\Program" "C:\Old-Program"