Unable to create an additional domain or a subdomain inside a subscription in Plesk for Windows Server: skelmng failed: Access is denied. (Error code 5)

Symptoms

• When creating an additional domain or a subdomain inside an existing subscription, the operation fails with:

  PLESK_ERROR: Error: skelmng failed: Access is denied. (Error code 5) at CreateDirectory(C:\Inetpub\vhosts\example.com\sub.example.com\css)
  <...>

  ---

  PLESK_ERROR: Error: skelmng failed: Access is denied. (Error code 5) at retrieves attributes for file or directory C:\Inetpub\vhosts\example.com\sub.example.com
  <...>

• When changing a PHP version in Plesk, the operation fails with the error "Access denied" and one of the errors above appear in the logfile C:\Program Files (x86)\Plesk\admin\logs\php_error.log.

Cause

Web-space (subscription) security settings are corrupted.

Resolution

1. Connect to the Plesk server via RDP.

2. Start a command prompt as an Administrator.

3. In the commands below, replace example.com with an affected subscription name and run:

   • Repair the web-space security settings of the subscription:

     C:\> "%plesk_cli%\repair.exe" --repair-webspace-security -webspace-name example.com

   • Reconfigure subscription:

     C:\> "%plesk_cli%\repair.exe" --reconfigure-web-site -web-site-name example.com

4. Create an additional domain or a subdomain again.

   Note: If all subscriptions in Plesk are affected, apply the solution from this KB article.