Django app on Windows Server 2012 - HTTP Error 500.0 - The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly

I setup a django "hello world" app IIS (Windows Server 2012). The application is run successfully using the Django web server. However, when I tried to install in on IIS (following the instructions provided here) I get an HTTP 500 error with the message "python.exe - The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly".

I have seen numerous related posts on stackoverflow, but nothing seems to work for me. Based on the guidance

• I have checked file permissions on both the app and virtual environment folder but they in my opinion this should not be the issue as the users IUSR and IIS_IUSRS can Read & execute, Read and List folder contents.
• I have tried also to run wfastcgi-enable based on the instructions provided by this post but I get the error "ensure your user has sufficient privileges and try again". Please note that I tried running it both from an "elevated" command line and also power shell with no results.
• I have reinstalled python to make sure it is installed for "all users" (as suggested by this post) but I get an error "0x80070659 - This installation is forbidden by system policy".
• I looked in the Event viewer but I could not find something useful.

My questions:

• Is there a specific log that I should check? How could I find it?
• My django app does not have a web.config file. Should I create one?

My setup: Windows Server 2012 R2, IIS 8.5, Python 3.9.1