Why does the Distribution Wizard fail to appear after an install?

If you're doing a first time install and the Distribution Wizard doesn't appear it's probably because you've copied some directories from an existing install. Namely, the Distribution Wizard looks for status files located in your permanent directory (the environment.permanentDirectory property in xwiki.properties).

Thus you'll need to remove the jobs/status/distribution/status.xml file located inside your permanent directory.

Now if you have done an upgrade of the XWiki WAR, you'll need to be logged as Admin to see the Distribution Wizard appear.