diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2c6f9f6..fe5a9bf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 .DS_Store
 htdocs/static/asset/*
+htdocs/application/config/stikked.php
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0fa0aec..ef3bc6d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ Installation
 
 1. Download stikked from https://github.com/claudehohl/Stikked/tags
 2. Create a user and database for Stikked
-3. Edit configuration settings in application/config/stikked.php - everything is described there
-4. You're done!
+3. Copy application/config/stikked.php.default to application/config/stikked.php
+4. Edit configuration settings in application/config/stikked.php - everything is described there
+5. You're done!
 
 * The database structure will be created automatically if it doesn't exist.
 * No special file permissions are needed by default. Optional: If you want to have the JavaScript- and CSS-files minified, the static/asset/ folder has to be writable.
diff --git a/htdocs/application/config/stikked.php b/htdocs/application/config/stikked.php.default
similarity index 100%
rename from htdocs/application/config/stikked.php
rename to htdocs/application/config/stikked.php.default
diff --git a/htdocs/system/core/Config.php b/htdocs/system/core/Config.php
index 5dffbf3..6c36414 100644
--- a/htdocs/system/core/Config.php
+++ b/htdocs/system/core/Config.php
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ class CI_Config {
 			{
 				return FALSE;
 			}
-			show_error('The configuration file '.$file.'.php does not exist.');
+			show_error('The configuration file '.$file.'.php does not exist. Please copy '.$file.'.php.default to '.$file.'.php and make the changes as needed and refresh the page.');
 		}
 
 		return TRUE;