It is not possible to enable the mail service in Plesk: The domain name ‘example.com’ is already in use

Symptoms

• It is not possible to enable the mail service for a domain in Plesk with the error:

  PLESK_ERROR: Error: mailmng failed: Invalid parameters: The domain name ‘example.com’ is already in use.
  at newDomain(example.com)(SmarterMail::Local::Provider::newDomain line 194)
  at execute console command –add-domain(vconsoleapp::start line 93)
  at execute “C:Program Files (x86)ParallelsPleskadminbinmailmng” –add-domain “–domain-name=example.com” “–disk-quota=-1” “–total-disk-quota=-1″(vconsoleapp::run line 110)
  (Error code 1)

• Remote SmarterMail is used as a mail server

Cause

Orphaned records in the SmarterMail database.

Resolution

1. Connect to the server via RDP

2. Open the command prompt as Administrator

3. Rename the orphaned domain record:

   C:> plesk sbin mailmng –rename-domain –old-domain-name=example.com –new-domain-name=domain.tld

4. Enable the mail service once again

5. Remove the renamed domain:

   C:> plesk sbin mailmng –remove-domain –domain-name=domain.tld