I was installing Drupal the other day and got the following error:

The Drupal installer requires that you create a settings file as part of the installation process.

1. Copy the ./sites/default/default.settings.php file to ./sites/default/settings.php.
2. Change file permissions so that it is writable by the web server. If you are unsure how to grant file permissions, please consult the on-line handbook.

More details about installing Drupal are available in INSTALL.txt.

I tried and tried to fix it by creating the "settings.php" file in the ./sites/default/ folder but the error persisted. I finally found out that you have to actually create a new copy of the default.settings.php file and leave the old one around, you can't just rename it for some reason.

If you are experiencing this error and have renamed or deleted the original place-holder default.settings.php file, just make a new one and the problem should be fixed! Good luck :)