diff --git a/install/tpl/apache_ispconfig.conf.master b/install/tpl/apache_ispconfig.conf.master
index cd9924a3770da2c523bb4134c7366ca34bb63583..c65d6d30da5d8455e85ae866d8254bf79c90125f 100644
--- a/install/tpl/apache_ispconfig.conf.master
+++ b/install/tpl/apache_ispconfig.conf.master
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@ CustomLog "| /usr/local/ispconfig/server/scripts/vlogger -s access.log -t \"%Y%m
 Alias /awstats-icon "/usr/share/awstats/icon"
 </tmpl_if>
 
+Alias /.well-known/acme-challenge /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/acme-challenge
+
 NameVirtualHost *:80
 NameVirtualHost *:443
 <tmpl_loop name="ip_adresses">
diff --git a/interface/acme-challenge/empty.dir b/interface/acme-challenge/empty.dir
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..95ba9ef37cca69318bcba17e67cd44ae84bd41e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/interface/acme-challenge/empty.dir
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This empty directory is needed by ISPConfig.
diff --git a/server/conf/nginx_vhost.conf.master b/server/conf/nginx_vhost.conf.master
index 97862c5b5a4ab03e108ec118ab572f090f1a50ee..0569674d7f483e2dc1113f04441c68a7994d32fa 100644
--- a/server/conf/nginx_vhost.conf.master
+++ b/server/conf/nginx_vhost.conf.master
@@ -263,6 +263,13 @@ server {
         }
 </tmpl_if>
 
+location /\.well-known/acme-challenge {
+	   root /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/acme-challenge;
+	   index index.html index.htm;
+	   try_files $uri =404;
+}
+
+
 <tmpl_loop name="basic_auth_locations">
         location <tmpl_var name='htpasswd_location'> { ##merge##
                 auth_basic "Members Only";
@@ -293,6 +300,13 @@ server {
 </tmpl_if>
         
         server_name <tmpl_var name='rewrite_domain'>;
+
+location /\.well-known/acme-challenge {
+	   root /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/acme-challenge;
+	   index index.html index.htm;
+	   try_files $uri =404;
+}
+
 <tmpl_if name='alias_seo_redirects2'>
 <tmpl_loop name="alias_seo_redirects2">
         if ($http_host <tmpl_var name='alias_seo_redirect_operator'> "<tmpl_var name='alias_seo_redirect_origin_domain'>") {
diff --git a/server/plugins-available/apache2_plugin.inc.php b/server/plugins-available/apache2_plugin.inc.php
index e0564cf6293f3956885e12e4d1bcc037821f777f..3a54946a5f2e488f39621dbe317c1e4c27f37540 100644
--- a/server/plugins-available/apache2_plugin.inc.php
+++ b/server/plugins-available/apache2_plugin.inc.php
@@ -1183,22 +1183,8 @@ class apache2_plugin {
 			if(!file_exists($crt_tmp_file) && !file_exists($key_tmp_file)) {
 				$app->log("Create Let's Encrypt SSL Cert for: $domain", LOGLEVEL_DEBUG);
 
-				if(is_dir($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/")) {
-					$app->log("Remove old challenge directory", LOGLEVEL_DEBUG);
-					$this->_exec("rm -rf " . $webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/");
-				}
-
-				$app->log("Create challenge directory", LOGLEVEL_DEBUG);
-				$app->system->mkdirpath($webroot . "/.well-known/");
-				$app->system->chown($webroot . "/.well-known/", $data['new']['system_user']);
-				$app->system->chgrp($webroot . "/.well-known/", $data['new']['system_group']);
-				$app->system->mkdirpath($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge");
-				$app->system->chown($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/", $data['new']['system_user']);
-				$app->system->chgrp($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/", $data['new']['system_group']);
-				$app->system->chmod($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge", "g+s");
-				
 				if(file_exists("/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt")) {
-					$this->_exec("/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt auth --text --agree-tos --authenticator webroot --server https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory --rsa-key-size 4096 --email postmaster@$domain --domains $lddomain --webroot-path " . escapeshellarg($webroot));
+					$this->_exec("/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt auth --text --agree-tos --authenticator webroot --server https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory --rsa-key-size 4096 --email postmaster@$domain --domains $lddomain --webroot-path /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/acme-challenge");
 				}
 			};
 
diff --git a/server/plugins-available/nginx_plugin.inc.php b/server/plugins-available/nginx_plugin.inc.php
index 867bf4832cc8f9dd8078afede0dd30fa3802c216..e070725e8ea94821d8cefc7a90c7cc0f92ac76c2 100644
--- a/server/plugins-available/nginx_plugin.inc.php
+++ b/server/plugins-available/nginx_plugin.inc.php
@@ -1303,22 +1303,8 @@ class nginx_plugin {
 			if(!file_exists($crt_tmp_file) && !file_exists($key_tmp_file)) {
 				$app->log("Create Let's Encrypt SSL Cert for: $domain", LOGLEVEL_DEBUG);
 
-				if(is_dir($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/")) {
-					$app->log("Remove old challenge directory", LOGLEVEL_DEBUG);
-					$this->_exec("rm -rf " . $webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/");
-				}
-
-				$app->log("Create challenge directory", LOGLEVEL_DEBUG);
-				$app->system->mkdirpath($webroot . "/.well-known/");
-				$app->system->chown($webroot . "/.well-known/", $data['new']['system_user']);
-				$app->system->chgrp($webroot . "/.well-known/", $data['new']['system_group']);
-				$app->system->mkdirpath($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge");
-				$app->system->chown($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/", $data['new']['system_user']);
-				$app->system->chgrp($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge/", $data['new']['system_group']);
-				$app->system->chmod($webroot . "/.well-known/acme-challenge", "g+s");
-				
 				if(file_exists("/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt")) {
-					$this->_exec("/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt auth --text --agree-tos --authenticator webroot --server https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory --rsa-key-size 4096 --email postmaster@$domain --domains $lddomain --webroot-path " . escapeshellarg($webroot));
+					$this->_exec("/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt auth --text --agree-tos --authenticator webroot --server https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory --rsa-key-size 4096 --email postmaster@$domain --domains $lddomain --webroot-path /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/acme-challenge");
 				}
 			};