I’ve just been greeted with WordPress’ message, while installing a client’s blog:

Sorry, I can’t write to the directory. You’ll have to either change the permissions on your WordPress directory or create your wp-config.php manually.

This usually appears when there is no top-level directory to CHMOD to 755 or 777. What should you do? It’s pretty easy. Rename the wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php. Edit the file with your correct database details. Go to wp-admin directory and open setup-config.php file.

Comment out the following lines:

//if (!file_exists(ABSPATH . '/how_to_bypass_php_permission_for_wordpress/wp_config_sample.html'))
//wp_die('Sorry, I need a wp-config-sample.php file to work from. Please re-upload this file from your WordPress installation.');

//if (!is_writable(ABSPATH))
//wp_die("Sorry, I can't write to the directory. You'll have to either change the permissions on your WordPress directory or create your wp-config.php manually.");

You should find these lines close to the top of the file. Save it and follow the steps on screen. Your WordPress will install without a problem.