Yes, I installed WordPress today for the first time. My host offered this installation through thier interface, which I tried first. I get 500 error when I do this.
Then, I install on my own, and several hours into the “famous 5-minute install” (someone must have really been biting thier tongue writing this one…), I have progressed to where install.php finally works (says install has already been completed). Honestly, is there any error checking in this code — the bang your head on the keyboard until it works thing really bites.
I finally figured out the permissions of the top directory was wrong, which gave me the 500 error on the wp-login.php, and now I have the login screen. When I try to login, my browser tries to download wp-login.php.
I tried uploading all of the files in the root wp directory (I have as /blog) as ascii, rather than binary, then vice-versa and now nothing works. If I go to a directory, I get page not found, and if I go to a file, it tries to download it. It seems to be a permissions or file type (ascii vs. binary) problem or something like that, but since the installer never checks for anything like that it is impossible to tell what the problem might be. And call my host? Please — I don’t want to spend the next 3 hours on the phone… PHP obviously works fine.
Back to bblog, which works (using PHP). Argh.