By lionheart8 on

Hi

I have just download a fresh version of Drupal 6.3 for a virgin installation on my PC
(not Update) only to get this error for the first time ever:

Requirements problem
The following error must be resolved before you can continue the installation process:

The Drupal installer requires that you create ./sites/default/settings.php as part of the installation process, and then make it writable. If you are unsure how to grant file permissions, please consult the on-line handbook.

the only thing i did was to untar the folder from Drupal using Winrar, "moved" the file
via Windows explorer to htdocs in Drupal.

I manually checked and it is really not there.

Could it be that settings.php was left out?

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

lionheart8’s picture

lionheart8 commented

When I however got a copy of the available default.settings.php and renamed it settings.php, the problem seems to be solved. Is that intended that one should do that manually or both files are supposed to be available like in the past?

wisu’s picture

wisu commented

Renaming the file works... but the installer wouldn't populate the database...

error :
fopen(./sites/default/default.settings.php) [http://www.domaingue.net/function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /var/www/includes/install.inc on line 187

what i did was copy back the settings.php to default.settings.php...
so under ./sites/default/ i have both settings.php and default.settings.php

wheatbix’s picture

wheatbix commented

I am having both of these issues when trying to install Drupal 6.3 on my godaddy hosting service.
HELP!
Does going back to drupal 6.2 work?

TheMiracleBook’s picture

TheMiracleBook commented

My setup wouldn't work when I renamed default.settings.php to settings.php.
But it DID work when I duplicated the default.settings.php file and renamed it - so it seems you need to have both default.settings.php AND settings.php files in order for setup to run.

Hope that helps...

Robardi56’s picture

Robardi56 commented

i've spend hours trying to solve this and your post helped: I left both renamed settings.php file and original file and it worked.
It's scandalous that we still must still rely on this tricks to get things work and have to manually mess with ftp or telnet for such things.

Phillip Mc’s picture

Phillip Mc commented

I got the exact same error a few days ago when trying out drupal 6.3.

Anyone know if there's an issue raised for this?

It's pretty important as Drupal was just announced as the "best CMS" by a PAKT Publishing survey/competition, so newbies who see that and devide to try out Drupal will be faced with an error message at the very first step of the installation.

gforce301’s picture

gforce301 commented

It is an important issue, but Drupal 6.6 is current stable. So maybe you should be using 6.6 instead of 6.3?

Phillip Mc’s picture

Phillip Mc commented

the error message I got was on 6.6 not on 6.3. here's the changelog header:

// $Id: CHANGELOG.txt,v 1.253.2.15 2008/10/22 19:26:00 goba Exp $

Drupal 6.6, 2008-10-22

Turns out that settings.php is deliberately missing from the download according to the install.txt:

CREATE THE CONFIGURATION FILE AND GRANT WRITE PERMISSIONS

   Drupal comes with a default.settings.php file in the sites/default
   directory. The installer uses this file as a template to create your
   settings file using the details you provide through the install process.
   To avoid problems when upgrading, Drupal is not packaged with an actual
   settings file. You must create a file named settings.php. You may do so
   by making a copy of default.settings.php (or create an empty file with
   this name in the same directory). For example, (from the installation
   directory) make a copy of the default.settings.php file with the command:

     cp sites/default/default.settings.php sites/default/settings.php

   Next, give the web server write privileges to the sites/default/settings.php
   file with the command (from the installation directory):

     chmod o+w sites/default/settings.php

  So that the files directory can be created automatically, give the web server
  write privileges to the sites/default directory with the command (from the
  installation directory):

     chmod o+w sites/default
lionheart8’s picture

lionheart8 commented

Thanks for providing that information explaining what seems to have been the mysterious disappearance of the settings.php, apparently, from 6.3 onwards.
I would have never thought of looking at the install.txt after not having to do it for previous version updates.

:)

barakuda’s picture

barakuda commented

hi i'm newbie here, and have the same problem.. i'm using xp home..i want to fix this problem..i follow carefully the instruction but still the problem remain..what's the possible reason?
1. i downlod drupal 6.6 and extracted to c/:xammp/htdocs/,
then i follow the instruction to Copy the ./sites/default/default.settings.php file to ./sites/default/settings.php.
then i select the site folder properties to grant permission by just right clicking the folder then properties uncheck read-only..is this the right steps? please help thanks

lionheart8’s picture

lionheart8 commented

Hi

I wonder if you found a way out ...

I have personally never had to do anything to change file permissions with XP (Professional & Home).
If the settings.php is missing, which is apparently deliberate, the error message suggests it might be a permissions problem, assuming the file is there but it just cannot read it.
The fact however is the file is not there.
So saving a copy of default.settings.php as settings.php should solve the problem, so that when you go to http://localhost/yourdrupalfolder you are prompted to start the installation.

If the problem persists, something else is wrong.

Regards

barakuda’s picture

barakuda commented

thanks! you enlighten me ! I copied default.settings.php as settings only without .php extension, before i used to copy it as settings.php inside it read as settings.php.php(cause I disabled extensions for known files in folder option) that's the reason why error occured..now it works!! thanks again

g10tto’s picture

g10tto commented

Excellent! I finally got this to work! Thanks a bunch!

p5systems’s picture

p5systems commented

Hello lionheart8,

You need to create the setting file before installation.
Go in sites\default and create one more file exactly like
default.settings.php and name it as settings.php.
Now your issues will be gone.