I've tried to install Craft on a variety of systems, and it seems that no matter what I try, I cannot get all the way through the installation process. In most cases, my install hangs on the "Oops" screen.

I've learned not to trust this screen, because if I immediately close the window and cancel my installation, the installer screen continues to show up when trying to access the admin login /admin/.
Instead, if I just let it sit for a few minutes then close the screen, it seems like the install actually works as expected. Visiting /admin/ in my browser has the desired affect, and I'm able to use the CMS as expected.
My thought is that it might be something related to the install cleanup process - but I'd like to take a peek at the install log file to see exactly where things went wrong.
I've checked system requirements, although on some systems, I'm unable to personally verify all of the requirements are met. But I'd like to know why I got that "Oops" screen. It's obviously a non-critical error, or else the db and system would not function properly - which it does.