Are you getting "401 Unauthorized" error on your website or Plesk panel? Solve the problem permanently with this detailed technical guide covering IIS permissions, .htaccess configuration and server settings.
The 401 Unauthorized error is an HTTP status code that indicates that the client (browser) does not have valid authentication credentials to access the requested resource. On Plesk servers, this error is usually caused by a server-side error rather than a simple password problem. file system permissions or web server configuration It is caused by (IIS/Apache/Nginx) errors.
2026 Due to SEO and web standards, server security and correct configuration (accessibility, which affects Core Web Vitals metrics) are vital. This mistake can completely block your site's accessibility, severely reducing your SEO score.
Windows based Plesk Hosting The most common cause of 401 error is Anonymous Authentication (Anonymous Authentication) user cannot access the file system. Follow the steps below:
Sometimes the permissions of the `httpdocs` folder may become corrupted. Instead of manual fixing, use Plesk's own tool:
On Linux-based systems (CentOS, AlmaLinux, Ubuntu), the 401 error is usually caused by an incorrect rule in the `.htaccess` file or the directory protection (Password Protected Directories) feature.
Open the `.htaccess` file in the root directory of your website and check if there are authorization lines like the following:
If you want your site to be public, delete or replace these lines. # Make it a comment line by putting it.
If you have server management (VDS or VPS via SSH or RDP if you are the owner) Plesk Repair Using the tool, you can repair all permissions and web server configurations with a single command. This is the most recommended and safest method in 2026 .
Connect to the server via Remote Desktop (RDP), run CMD as administrator and enter the following command:
Connect to the server via SSH (as root) and run the following command:
With Eka Sunucu's managed server services, leave technical problems to our experts and you can focus on your business. 99.9% Uptime guarantee and 7/24 support.
Check out VDS PackagesYes, it definitely affects. 2026 Google algorithms place great emphasis on user experience and accessibility. When Google bots can't access your site (receive the 401 error), they won't be able to index your pages and your current ranking may drop rapidly. Therefore, the error must be corrected urgently.
No, plesk repair web or plesk repair fs commands do not delete your database or code files. It just resets the IIS/Apache/Nginx configuration files and file system permissions to the required standard values. However, if you have manually added special rules to the web server config files, these can be reset.
Detailed error codes on IIS are as follows: 401.2: Login failed due to server configuration (Usually the authentication method is turned off). 401.3: Unauthorized access due to ACL (Access Control List) on the resource (File permissions issue).
If the above steps did not resolve the issue, the issue may be code-based (bad redirects in web.config or .htaccess) or a server-wide Group Policy restriction. In this case, you can contact the Eka Sunucu technical support team and request a detailed review.