Website on Plesk server does not process *.php files: Error 404.2 The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the ISAPI and CGI Restriction list settings on the Web server.

Symptoms

Website example.com does not process *.php files, html files are shown normally. The following error is shown in the browser:

CONFIG_TEXT: Error 404.2 The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the ISAPI and CGI Restriction list settings on the Web server.

The following error appears in Failed Request Tracing logs:

CONFIG_TEXT: The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the ISAPI and CGI Restriction list settings on the Web server.

SECURITY_DENIED_BY_CGI_RESTRICTION
MODULE_SET_RESPONSE_STATUS

Detailed Error Information:
Module: CgiModule
Notification: ExecuteRequestHandler
Handler: PHP5-FastCGI-php
Error Code: 0x800704ec
Requested URL: http://example.com:80/index.php
Physical Path C:\Inetpub\vhosts\example.com\httpdocs\index.php
Logon Method Anonymous
Logon User Anonymous

or

The following error is shown in the browser:

CONFIG_TEXT: Error 404.1 The system cannot find the file specified.

Requested *.php file is present in website directory and has valid access permissions.

The following error appears in Failed Request Tracing logs:

CONFIG_TEXT: ModuleName: CGI Module
Notification: EXECUTE_REQUEST_HANDLER
HttpSTatus: Not Found
HttpSubStatus: 0
ErrorCode: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x80070002)

Cause

Broken IIS configuration file for the website.

Resolution

Rebuild configuration file:

1. Connect to the server via RDP.
2. Move web.config file outside vhost's directory (default location c:\inetpub\vhosts\example.com\httpdocs\) to any other location (for example c:\)
3. Open command line console "cmd.exe" with Administrator privileges and run command to rebuild web.config:

   plesk repair web example.com

4. If this does not help open IIS manager > click server_hostname> ISAPI and CGI restrictions > click Edit feature settings > check check-boxes Allow unspecifed ISAPI modules and Allow unspecified CGI modules and click OK.