Skip to content

Register now for our Web Enablement Ecosystem webinar!

  • Contact us: +34 944 58 06 58
  • Plesk Partner Program
  • Plesk Lifecycle Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Plesk 360
  • Contact us: +34 944 58 06 58
  • Plesk Partner Program
  • Plesk Lifecycle Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Plesk 360
  • Solutions
    By Role
    • Developers
    • Content Managers
    • Digital Agencies
    • IT Admins
    • Web Hosters
    • Hyperscalers
    • Developers
    • Content Managers
    • Digital Agencies
    • IT Admins
    • Web Hosters
    • Hyperscalers
    By Edition
    • Web Admin Edition
    • Web Pro Edition
    • Web Host Edition
    • Business & Collaboration
    • Plesk WP Edition
    • Web Admin Edition
    • Web Pro Edition
    • Web Host Edition
    • Business & Collaboration
    • Plesk WP Edition
    By Cloud
    • Amazon Web Services
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Alibaba Cloud
    • GCP Marketplace
    • Vultr
    • DigitalOcean
    • Linode
    • UpCloud
    • Amazon Web Services
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Alibaba Cloud
    • GCP Marketplace
    • Vultr
    • DigitalOcean
    • Linode
    • UpCloud
    Partner Program
    Exclusive discounts, benefits and exposure to take your business to the next level
    Become a partner
    • By Role
      • Developers
      • Content Managers
      • Digital Agencies
      • IT Admins
      • Web Hosters
      • Hyperscalers
    • By Edition
      • Web Admin Edition
      • Web Pro Edition
      • Web Host Edition
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Edition
    • By Cloud
      • Amazon Web Services
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Alibaba Cloud
      • GCP Marketplace
      • Vultr
      • DigitalOcean
      • Linode
      • UpCloud
    • Partner Program
      • Partner Program
  • Product
    Explore Features
    • Everyone
    • Admins & Web Hosters
    • Developers
    • Designers & Agencies
    • Plesk Features
    • Everyone
    • Admins & Web Hosters
    • Developers
    • Designers & Agencies
    • Plesk Features
    Key Topics
    • SocialBee
    • WP Toolkit
    • Sitejet Builder
    • SEO Toolkit
    • Joomla! Toolkit
    • Plesk Premium Email
    • Plesk Email Security
    • SocialBee
    • WP Toolkit
    • Sitejet Builder
    • SEO Toolkit
    • Joomla! Toolkit
    • Plesk Premium Email
    • Plesk Email Security
    Feature Packs
    • Business & Collaboration
    • WP Pack
    • Hosting Pack
    • Power Pack
    • Language Pack
    • Business & Collaboration
    • WP Pack
    • Hosting Pack
    • Power Pack
    • Language Pack
    Featured Extension
    SocialBee
    • Explore Features
      • Everyone
      • Admins & Web Hosters
      • Developers
      • Designers & Agencies
      • Plesk Features
    • Key Topics
      • SocialBee
      • WP Toolkit
      • Sitejet Builder for Plesk
      • SEO Toolkit
      • Plesk Premium Email
      • Plesk Email Security
    • Feature Packs
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Pack
      • Hosting Pack
      • Power Pack
      • Language Pack
    • Featured Extension
      • Extension
  • Pricing
  • Extensions
  • Help Center
  • More
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Plesk University
  • FREE TRIAL
  • Solutions
    • By Role
      • Developers
      • Content Managers
      • Digital Agencies
      • IT Admins
      • Web Hosters
      • Hyperscalers
    • By Edition
      • Web Admin Edition
      • Web Pro Edition
      • Web Host Edition
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Edition
    • By Cloud
      • Amazon Web Services
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Alibaba Cloud
      • GCP Marketplace
      • Vultr
      • DigitalOcean
      • Linode
      • UpCloud
    • Partner Program
      • Partner Program
  • Product
    • Explore Features
      • Everyone
      • Admins & Web Hosters
      • Developers
      • Designers & Agencies
      • Plesk Features
    • Key Topics
      • SocialBee
      • WP Toolkit
      • Sitejet Builder
      • SEO Toolkit
      • Joomla! Toolkit
      • Plesk Premium Email
      • Plesk Email Security
    • Feature Packs
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Pack
      • Hosting Pack
      • Power Pack
      • Language Pack
    • Featured Extension
      • SocialBee
  • Pricing
  • Extensions
  • Help center
  • More
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Plesk University
    • Blog
    • Plesk Partner Program
    • Contact Us
  • FREE TRIAL
  • Solutions
    • By Role
      • Developers
      • Content Managers
      • Digital Agencies
      • IT Admins
      • Web Hosters
      • Hyperscalers
    • By Edition
      • Web Admin Edition
      • Web Pro Edition
      • Web Host Edition
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Edition
    • By Cloud
      • Amazon Web Services
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Alibaba Cloud
      • GCP Marketplace
      • Vultr
      • DigitalOcean
      • Linode
      • UpCloud
    • Partner Program
      • Partner Program
  • Product
    • Explore Features
      • Everyone
      • Admins & Web Hosters
      • Developers
      • Designers & Agencies
      • Plesk Features
    • Key Topics
      • SocialBee
      • WP Toolkit
      • Sitejet Builder
      • SEO Toolkit
      • Joomla! Toolkit
      • Plesk Premium Email
      • Plesk Email Security
    • Feature Packs
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Pack
      • Hosting Pack
      • Power Pack
      • Language Pack
    • Featured Extension
      • SocialBee
  • Pricing
  • Extensions
  • Help center
  • More
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Plesk University
    • Blog
    • Plesk Partner Program
    • Contact Us
  • FREE TRIAL

Knowledge Base

Website hosted in Plesk or some sections of it are inaccessible: 403 Forbidden error pcfg_openfile: unable to check .htaccess file

 
403 forbidden errorcssgohostedhtaccess

Symptoms

  • Plesk Obsidian running on a Linux-based operating system
  • Opening the domain of website hosted on Plesk in a browser returns a 403 Forbidden error
  • Website hosted in Plesk or some sections of it are inaccessible with an error similar to the following in /var/www/vhosts/example.com/logs/error_log:

    AH01071: Got error 'PHP message: PHP Warning: require(/var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/load.php): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-settings.php on line 19
    PHP message: PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required '/var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/load.php' (include_path='.:/opt/plesk/php/7.1/share/pear') in /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-settings.php on line 19'

    [crit] [client 203.0.113.2] (13)Permission denied: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/css/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable, referer: http://www.example.com/index.html

Cause

Incorrect permissions or ownership for website files and directories.

Resolution

  1. Log into Plesk
  2. Go to Subscriptions > example.com and determine the system user for the Subscription tied to the affected domain:
    22.PNG
  3. Connect to the server via SSH as the root user

  4. Run the following commands:

    Note: Replace "johndoe" with the system user name from step #2

    # find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} ;
    # find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} ;
    # find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ -type f -exec chown johndoe:psacln {} ;
    # find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ -type d -exec chown johndoe:psacln {} ;

Tweet
Share
Share
Email
0 Shares
Read the full article
Related Posts

How to Host a Go App on Plesk

Read More »

Your Complete .htaccess Guide: Including .htaccess Basics and More

Read More »

403 Forbidden Error: What Is It & How To Fix It

Read More »
Knowledge Base

WordPress website returns a 404 Page Not Found error on internal pages and posts

Read More »

How to change the list of predefined values, set the default value and forbid to use custom values for PHP parameters in domain’s PHP Settings in Plesk

Read More »

[BUG] nginx shows configuration error in Plesk: “proxy_read_timeout” directive is duplicate

Read More »

Website hosted in Plesk shows 403 Forbidden or blank page: pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

Read More »

Hosting Wiki

  • Django
  • Server Redundancy
  • Linux Containers
  • Google Cloud CDN
  • htaccess
  • Bare Metal Server
  • PhpMyAdmin
  • phpPgAdmin
  • Oracle VM Server
  • Server Virtualization Software
  • Windows Server
  • Linux
  • PHP
  • CSS
  • MongoDB
  • Plesk
  • Web Server
  • DNS Server
  • SSH

Industry
Partners

industry-partner_ALIBABA
industry-partner_GOOGLEPARTNER
industry-partner_MICROSOFT
industry-partner_REDHAT-r2
industry-partner_ALIBABA
industry-partner_AUTOMATTIC
industry-partner_AWS
industry-partner_DIGITALOCEAN
industry-partner_SCALEWAY
Follow us:
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Youtube Github

COMPANY

About Plesk
Our Brand
Legal
Careers
Impressum

PRODUCT

Pricing 
Extensions
What’s new

KNOWLEDGE BASE

Documentation
Help Center
Migrate to Plesk
Contact Us
Hosting Wiki
Preview releases

PROGRAMS

Contributor Program NEW
Partner Program
Affiliate ProgramNEW

COMMUNITY

Blog
Forums 
Plesk University

First defaul

Company

About Plesk
Our Brand
Legal
Careers
Impressum

PRODUCT

Pricing 
Extensions
What’s new

KNOWLEDGE BASE​

Documentation
Help Center
Migrate to Plesk
Contact Us
Hosting Wiki
Preview releases

PROGRAMS​

Contributor Program NEW
Partner Program
Affiliate ProgramNEW

COMMUNITY​

Blog
Forums
Plesk University

Follow us:
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Youtube Github

© 2025 WebPros International GmbH. All rights reserved. Plesk and the Plesk logo are trademarks of WebPros International GmbH.

Managed with love with Plesk WP Toolkit