Domain creation fails on a Plesk server: String must not be empty

Symptoms

• On a Windows Plesk server, a domain or subdomain cannot be created or restored, because an error that is similar to the following is shown:

  Domain example.com creation failed
  String must not be empty
  In module
  Exception type: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException
  at Microsoft.Web.Administration.Interop.IAppHostProperty.set_Value(Object value)
  at Microsoft.Web.Administration.ConfigurationElement.SetAttributeValue(String attributeName, Object value)
  at FastCgiCollection.Add(String fullPath, String arguments)
  at IISFastCgiApplications.add(IISFastCgiApplications* , shared_ptr<IFastCgiApplication>* , basic_string<wchar_t,std::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::allocator<wchar_t> >* executablePath, basic_string<wchar_t,std::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::allocator<wchar_t> >* arguments)
  at updateHandler(PHP-php, 100)(WebServerAdapter::updateHandler line 1532)
  at updateHandlers(100, false)(WebServerAdapter::updateHandlers line 1465)
  at setScriptMaps(100, true)(WebServerAdapter::setScriptMaps line 1371)
  at configHosting(sub.example.com)(WebServerAdapter::configHosting line 393)
  at configHosting(sub.example.com)(WebServerManager::configHosting line 2656)
  at Unable to execute console command: '--install-vhost'(vconsoleapp::start line 95)
  at Unable to execute command: '"C:Program Files (x86)Pleskadminbin64websrvmng" --install-vhost "--vhost-config=C:/Program Files (x86)/Plesk/PrivateTemp/iahf8886de8.tmp"'(vconsoleapp::run line 117)
  (Error code 1)

Cause

A previously failed Plesk update process is commonly responsible for the error.

Resolution

The issue can usually be resolved by following these steps:

1. Log into Plesk

2. Go to Tools & Settings > Server Components page and click on Refresh button.