How to Create a Web.Config file for WordPress

Overview

Existing WordPress websites hosted on Windows servers need a specific web.config file to function. This is similar to how a Linux hosted WordPress site would need a .htaccess file for pages to load. In this guide we’ll step you through creating the required web.config file for your Windows hosted WordPress website.

Instructions

1. Login to Plesk via your Control Panel area.
2. Open the File Manager
   
3. Navigate to the directory containing the website files:
   In our example the website is located in the default directory “httpdocs”
   
4. Create a file called web.config and open it:
   

5. Copy & Paste the below into your new web.config file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
    <system.webServer>
        <defaultDocument>
            <files>
                <clear />
                <add value="index.php" />
            </files>
        </defaultDocument>
        <rewrite>
            <rules>
                <clear />
                <rule name="WordPress Rule" stopProcessing="true">
                    <match url=".*" />
                    <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false">
                        <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
                        <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
                    </conditions>
                    <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php" />
                </rule>
            </rules>
            <outboundRules>
                <clear />
            </outboundRules>
        </rewrite>
    </system.webServer>
</configuration>

6. Save the file:
   
7. Test your WordPress website to ensure it’s working.

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