Unable to access Plesk hosted website: 500.19 – Internal Server Error. Cannot read configuration file due to insufficient permissions

Symptoms

1. Website is hosted in Plesk and shows error:

   500.19 - Internal Server Error
    Config Error Cannot read configuration file due to insufficient permissions
    Config File ?C:Inetpubvhostsexample.comhttpdocsweb.config

2. In IIS, the domain example.com is assigned to default “plesk(default)(4.0)” pool instead of its own “example.com(domain)(4.0)” pool.

Cause

Incorrect application pool specified for the domain in IIS.

Resolution

1. Log into Plesk.

2. Go to Domains > example.com > Dedicated IIS Application Pool for Website.

   Note: change the “example.com” website in the path above to the actual one.

3. Click the Switch Off button and then Switch On.

Alternatively, log in to Plesk via RDP and reconfigure the website:

C:> plesk repair web example.com -y