Backup restoration fails in Plesk, when custom directory for backups is used: Cannot chdir to popuser homedir /var/qmail/popuser System error 2: No such file or directory

Symptoms

• When restoring a backup in Plesk, the following error message appears:

  PLESK_WARN: <execution-result status="warnings"><object name="example.com" type="Restore domain"><message code="CantUnpackDomainContent" severity="warning"><description>Can not deploy content of domain example.com</description><message code="ExecCmd::ExFailed" severity="warning"><description>Execution of dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/disk1/qmail/mailnames/example.com/pmm-.fs_-OD6zo8/.reserved bs=10485760 count=1 failed with return code 1.
  Stdout is
  Cannot chdir to popuser homedir /var/qmail/popuser
  System error 2: No such file or directory

• Emails are stored in the directory, that is different from the default location - /var/qmail/mailnames:

  # grep PLESK_MAILNAMES_D /etc/psa/psa.conf
  PLESK_MAILNAMES_D /mnt/disk1/qmail/mailnames

• The home directory for popuser is /var/qmail/popuser:

  # grep popuser /etc/passwd
  popuser:x:30:31:POP3 service user:/var/qmail/popuser:/bin/false

Cause

The home directory for popuser is incorrect in the file /etc/passwd.

Resolution

1. Connect to the Plesk server via SSH.

2. Create a backup of the /etc/passwd file:

   # cp -a /etc/passwd{,.bkp}

3. Open the file /etc/passwd in a text editor (for example, vi editor) and change the home directory for popuser to the same value that is specified for PLESK_MAILNAMES_D in the file /etc/psa/psa.conf:

   # grep popuser /etc/passwd
   popuser:x:30:31:POP3 service user:/mnt/disk1/qmail/mailnames:/bin/false