Unable to connect to Plesk 18.0.80 from WHMCS: This element is not expected

Gilson Siqueira

Updated August 14, 2026 14:53

Plesk for Linux kb: technical

Applicable to:

Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

Plesk Obsidian is updated to version 18.0.80 or later.
WHMCS is connected to the Plesk server.
When performing an action from WHMCS (for example, syncing accounts, or suspending/unsuspending a service), the following error appears:

CONFIG_TEXT: Module Command Error
Error code: 1014. Error message: Parser error: Request is invalid. Error in line 2: Element 'domain': This element is not expected. Expected is one of ( request-settings, server, customer, webspace, subdomain, dns, db_server, mail, certificate, site-alias ).

Cause

Starting with Plesk 18.0.80, the XML API enforces stricter schema validation on incoming requests. The WHMCS Plesk module sends a suspend/unsuspend request that does not comply with this stricter validation, so the request is rejected.

This is a known issue in the WHMCS Plesk module, tracked as WHMCS-27532, and needs to be fixed by WHMCS.

Note: please click the "Follow" button at the top of this article to stay informed, you will receive an update by email once the fix is released.

Resolution

There is currently no server-side fix for this specific error. Until WHMCS releases an updated module, use the following as a temporary measure:

Log into Plesk (not through WHMCS).
Go to Websites & Domains.
Use the subscription's Suspend / Activate action to suspend or unsuspend the service manually.
Repeat this manually for each affected subscription until WHMCS ships a fix.

Note: setting deprecationError = off in panel.ini does not resolve this specific error. That setting only suppresses unrelated deprecated-protocol warnings. If you already applied it and still see error 1014, no further panel.ini changes are needed, wait for the WHMCS-side fix instead.

For engineers: tracked in Jira WHMCS-27532 (Critical, Backlog as of 2026-08-14, no ETA). If a customer reports this, add their ticket number as a comment on WHMCS-27532 instead of opening a new bug, it helps WHMCS prioritize. Background discussion: #ask-whmcs-development (Slack).