Ok, so it was tough installing Magento locally on a MAMP server. The problem is on Configuration section, I can’t seem to go further into next step when I clicked on Continue. I was able to solve this by following the instruction on this blog.

http://azgtech.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/magento-1-4-local-installation-admin-login-cookie-issue-fixed/

This works in 1.4 version, latest and current version of Magento.

search for “// session cookie params” line in app\code\core\Mage\Core\Model\Session\Abstract\Varien.php

change

$cookieParams = array(
‘lifetime’ => $cookie->getLifetime(),
‘path’ => $cookie->getPath(),
‘domain’ => $cookie->getConfigDomain(),
‘cookieParams’ => $cookie->isSecure(),
‘httponly’ => $cookie->getHttponly()
);

to

$cookieParams = array(
‘lifetime’ => $cookie->getLifetime(),
‘path’ => $cookie->getPath()
);

and comment the below mentioned code
line number 86, in my file

/* if (!$cookieParams['httponly']) {
unset($cookieParams['httponly']);
if (!$cookieParams['secure']) {
unset($cookieParams['secure']);
if (!$cookieParams['domain']) {
unset($cookieParams['domain']);
}
}
}

if (isset($cookieParams['domain'])) {
$cookieParams['domain'] = $cookie->getDomain();
}
*/
now refresh your browser and continue installation, then log in unto the backend, it will work