Are you trying to install Websitepanel on Windows?

This guide is for you.

WebsitePanel is a control panel that helps us to manage websites, application pools, email accounts, and much more easily on our Windows server.
Other than Plesk it is also considered as one of the prominent control panels for Windows hosting.
Here at Ibmi Media, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform Websitepanel installation on Windows servers.
In this context, we shall look into Websitepanel installation steps and also fix some common errors.

Installing WebsitePanel on Windows

WebsitePanel, earlier known as DotNetPanel is an open-source control panel that allows us to fully control our application pools, websites, email accounts, and much more on our Windows server.
We need SQLExpress and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 as prerequisites. The steps our Support Techs follow to install WebsitePanel are given below:

Steps to install WebsitePanel on Windows ?

1. First, type mstsc in the command prompt to get the Remote Desktop dialog box.
2. Download the .exe installation file from https://www.websitepanel.net/downloads/.
3. We will have to register an account for downloading this.
4. After that we can choose the latest stable release (2.1) and click on ”Website Panel Installer” to start the download.
5. When the download is complete, we can run the file “WebsitePanelSetup-2.1.0” and click “Next”.
6. Then click “Next” twice for installing the missing components.
7. For installing Portal into the default directory click “Next”.
8. We can set the IP address and hostname for accessing WebsitePanel Server and click “Next”.
9. Next we will create a new user account for accessing the website also we will uncheck the “Create Active directory account” checkbox.
10. Set a password for accessing the server. Type in the password and click “Next”.
11. We will set the IP address and hostname for accessing WebsitePanel Enterprise Server and click “Next”.
12. Then we will create a new user account used for accessing the website on Enterprise Server. Uncheck the “Create Active directory account” check box.
13.  We will set a password for accessing the server as admin.  After typing the password click “Next”.
14. For testing the connection to SQLExpress click “Test Connection” if a message pops up with “Success” click “Next”.

In case if we encounter any error like "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" we can take Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and login using the Windows Authentication.
Go to the Object Explorer and expand /Security/Logins, double click on "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM”.
From there click on "Server Roles"  in the dialogue box which appears and check the box "sysadmin". This possibly will fix the error.
We will verify this by clicking on "Test Connection" again.

15. For accessing the portal for WebsitePanel we will create a new user account, set a password for it, and uncheck the “Create Active directory account” checkbox.
16. Finally click “Next” and click “Install”. With this, we will complete the installation of WebsitePanel on the Windows server.

[Need assistance to install WebsitePanel? We are happy to help you!]

Some Common Errors Related to WebsitePanel.

We will now see some of the common errors related to WebsitePanel and the steps to fix them.

1.  Error received while Opening WebsitePanel 1.2 version installed:

Server Error in '/' Application.

Configuration Error Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Unrecognized configuration section system.web.extensions.

Solution:
WebsitePanel 1.2 is no longer supported. So we can try installing the latest version of WebsitePanel to fix the above error.

2. WebsitePanel error ::  Web Application Gallery module is unavailable
Generally, we will receive this error while trying to install any Microsoft Applications from Microsoft Web Application Gallery inside WebsitePanel.

Solution:
The solution differs for 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems.

For 32-bit Operating System
To fix this, we will make some changes in the Windows registry file as below:
i. First we will open the registry to change MsDeploy v1 path.
ii. And Navigate through [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\IIS Extensions\MSDeploy\1].
iii. Under “InstallPath_x86” enter the value C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy\.
iv. Next navigate through [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\IIS Extensions\MSDeploy\2].
v. Under “InstallPath_x86” enter the value C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V2\.
vi. Finally, restart IIS after making the changes.

For 64-bit Operating System
To fix this error on a 64-bit Operating System we can do the following:
a. Install the latest version of MS Deploy (x64 version) from http://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/web-deploy
b. Then run the WebsitePanel Server application pool in 64-bit mode.
c. Finally, restart the IIS service.

3. Login Error: Advanced statistics is not enabled for the specified domain
While installing AWStats with the secure login tool, we will receive the following error:
Login Error: Advanced statistics is not enabled for the specified domain. Login to control panel, open 'My Resources -> Advanced Statistics' page and add a new statistics site.

Solution:
For fixing this error we will make slight changes in the User Rights Assignment.

Changes to be made are given in the following steps:
i. First, take the  Administrative Tools and go to Local Security Settings in the windows server.
ii. Then go to User Policies and take User Rights Assignment.
iii. We will assign rights to DNPWebUser by right-clicking on the rights.
iv. After that we will choose properties, click Add User or Group.
v. From there choose Object Types and select only Group, click OK.
vi. After that take Advance then go to Find Now and select DNPWebUsers group.
vii. Finally we can click OK thrice for completing the step.

4. System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 400: Bad Request
The WebsitePanel stops working at times and this error appears in the portal.

Solution:
We can fix this error with the following steps:
i. First,  we will start the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
ii. After that we will select the site in the IIS tree.
iii. Then double-click the Authentication icon.
iv. And we will open the Authentication feature in IIS.

Usually, Windows Authentication appears as an option in IIS website authentication settings we can check whether if it is disabled.

[Facing errors in your WebsitePanel? We can help you! ]