Unable to apply subscription settings in Plesk: “User ‘john_doe’ doesn’t exist” or “URL ‘/plesk-stat’ is not protected”

Symptoms

• When applying subscription settings (e.g. in Hosting Settings, PHP Settings, etc.), the operation fails with:

  PLESK_ERROR: Error: ProtDirUser_IIS::update() failed: Update Protected Directory #5 user failed: User ‘john_doe’ doesn’t exist. (Error code 1)

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  PLESK_ERROR: Error: ProtDirUser_IIS::update() failed: Update Protected Directory #5 user failed: URL ‘/plesk-stat’ is not protected In IIS7NativeProvider module

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  PLESK_ERROR: Error: ProtDirUser_IIS::update() failed: Add Protected Directory user failed: Url ‘plesk-stat’ is not protected.

• A backup restoration finishes with the warning:

  PLESK_INFO: Warning: Restore domain “example.com”
  Execution of “C:Program Files (x86)ParallelsPleskbindomain.exe” –update example.com <…> failed with return code 1. Stderr is An error occurred during domain update: An error occurred during changing of hosting settings: ProtDirUser_IIS::update() failed: Update Protected Directory #401 user failed: URL ‘/plesk-stat’ is not protected In IIS7NativeProvider module Exception type: System.Exception at ProtectedUrls.get(ProtectedUrls* , unique_ptr* , basic_string* path) at updateProtectedUrlUser(example.com, /plesk-stat, john_doe, ) <…>

Cause

The database of protected directories is corrupted.

Resolution

1. Connect to the Plesk server via RDP.

2. Start a command prompt as an Administrator.

3. Synchronize password-protected directories data:

   C:> “%plesk_cli%repair.exe” –synchronize-protected-directories-storage

4. Retry to save subscription settings or restore a backup.

If the operation fails with the same error message, recreate password-protected directories for the faulty domains:

1. Log in to Plesk.

2. Go to Domians > example.com > Password-protected directories.

3. Select a password-protected directory and click Remove Protection.

4. Once removed, click Add Protected Directory and add the removed directory back.