PHP exec() command not working - php

Question

After hours and hours of trying and searching for an answer i coudn't get it working.
Hosting details:
Windows Server 2012 R2
Plesk 12
IIS 8.5
The problem
My problem is:
I want to execute this command in PHP. The command is necessary to reload the configs for filezilla, after creating a new user with an PHP script.
C:\Program Files (x86)\FileZilla Server\FileZilla Server.exe /reload-config
It does work when i try it directly in CMD.
But in PHP if doens't somehow work. I tried so many things, that im going to try to give you all the manners i tried.
I tried to do this at the following ways:
Trial 1
$command = '"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\FileZilla Server\\FileZilla Server.exe" /reload-config';
exec( $command, $output, $return);
print_r($output);
echo '<br/>' .$return;
Output:
Array ( )
0
Trial 2
$command = '"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\FileZilla Server\\FileZilla Server.exe" /reload-config';
system( $command, $output);
print_r($output);
Output: 0
Trial 3
$command = 'C:\\"Program Files (x86)\\FileZilla Server\\FileZilla Server.exe" /reload-config';
exec( $command, $output, $return);
print_r($output);
echo '<br/>' .$return;
Output: 0
Trial 4 (The only one that returns an error!)
exec( 'C:\\"Program Files (x86)\\FileZilla Server\\FileZilla Server.exe" /stop 2>&1', $output);
print_r($output);
Output:
Array ( [0] => Toegang geweigerd. )
In english:
Array ( [0] => Access denied. )
Privileges:
In allmost all awnsers found they talked about privileges. I did following privileges:
Gave all web users and IUSR privileges to CMD.exe and FileZilla Server.exe,
and tried to set the IIS authentication from anonymous to an Administrator account
Somebody said to try this:
echo '<pre>';
system('set', $retval);
echo ' </pre>';
If i do that my output is: http://pastebin.com/SjzeQpJ0
If you guys want anymore details just ask. I hope you guys can figure it out for me. I tried to be as clear as possible. Thanks.
Finaly found the solution!!
If you encounter the same problem as i did, and you dont know how to fix this, follow this steps.
Login to the Remote of your server (if you have access to it) Open
Open the IIS manager
Select -> Application Pools node underneath the machine node (left panel)
Right click on the desired domainname -> Advanced settings
Scroll to Process Model -> Id
Click on the 3 dots
Check the Custom Account radio button
Fill in an existing administration account which has access to the
remote desktop and of course its password
Press OK
Now go to the .exe or whatever file you want to access throught the
exec command and
Right click on the file and select properties
Go to the security tab
Select Edit
Now grand full rights to the account you selected before. If its
not listed than add it manualy by clicking on Add
If you have done all of this, it now should work.

Answer 1

Finaly found the solution!!
If you encounter the same problem as i did, and you dont know how to fix this, follow this steps.
Login to the Remote of your server (if you have access to it)
Open the IIS manager
Select -> Application Pools node underneath the machine node (left panel)
Right click on the desired domainname -> Advanced settings
Scroll to Process Model -> Identity
Click on the 3 dots
Check the Custom Account radio button
Fill in an existing administration account which has access to the
remote desktop and of course its password
Press OK
Now go to the .exe or whatever file you want to access throught the
exec command and
Right click on the file and select properties
Go to the security tab
Select Edit
Now grand full rights to the account you selected before. If its
not listed than add it manualy by clicking on Add
If you have done all of this, it now should work.

Answer 2

There is a much safer way to do this I figured out by using the above and exploring some. All you need to do is enable "Load User Profile" and it will then have all the normal user permissions assigned by a regular user. Just got it working like this instead of giving administrative access:
Login to the Remote of your server (if you have access to it)
Open the IIS manager
Select -> Application Pools node underneath the machine node (left panel)
Right click on the desired domainname -> Advanced settings
Scroll to Process Model -> Id
Set Load User Profile = True
and working! specifically fixed Windows 2012 R2

Answer 3

Go to IIS
Click on Application Pool
Select the application pool -> Advance Settings
Under Popup -> Process Model -> Set Load User Profile to TRUE
And -> Process Model -> Identity -> Local System
This will act as a current user
Note: If current has high privileges over system, This will be high risk.