A scheduled task set up to run from under a subscription user fails: No such file or directory

Symptoms

A scheduled task set up to run from under a subscription user fails with one of the following error messages:

PLESK_ERROR: Task /opt/plesk/php/5.6/bin/php -q /var/www/vhosts/example.com/wp-cron.php completed with error in 0 seconds, output:
-: /opt/plesk/php/5.6/bin/php: No such file or directory

PLESK_ERROR: user with id=11112 and name=`<user_name>` not found in chrooted passwd file
system error: No such file or directory

PLESK_ERROR: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/app/cake: /usr/bin/env: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

PLESK_ERROR: Task "php -q /var/www/vhosts/example.com/crons/cron.php" successfully completed in 0 seconds, output:
The file /var/www/vhosts/example.com/crons/cron.php is corrupted.

PLESK_ERROR: Task "wget --spider -O - https://example.com/api_provider/cron/order >/dev/null 2>&1" completed with error in 0 seconds.

Cause

When running a scheduled task from under a system user using system utilities (curl, wget, php, etc.), the command will fail if the system user has no access to the server or is set up to run commands in a limited environment (chrooted).

Resolution

One of the following workarounds may be applied:

1. Recreate the task from under a root user at Tools & Settings > Scheduled Tasks:

   CONFIG_TEXT: Task type: Run a command
   Command: /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php -q /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/whmcs/crons/cron.php

   OR

   CONFIG_TEXT: Task type: Run a PHP script
   Script path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/whmcs/crons/cron.php
   Use PHP version: select any required version
   System user: root

2. Provide the system user john_doe with access to the server over SSH (for example, /bin/bash) at Domains > example.com > Web Hosting Access.

3. Change the crontab shell for scheduled tasks to /bin/bash at Tools & Settings > Scheduled Tasks > Settings.

4. Add a required command to a chrooted environment.

   Note: For instructions, see the next article: How to add new programs to a chrooted shell environment template

Additional Information

• Administrator's Guide: Scheduled Tasks Shell Setting