child theme requires index.php

You do not need index.php. You do need this code in the top of style.ccs

/*
Theme Name:     Twenty Eleven Child
Theme URI:      http: //example.com/
Description:    Child theme for the Twenty Eleven theme
Author:         Your name here
Author URI:     http: //example.com/about/
Template:       twentyeleven
Version:        0.1.0
*/
@import url("../twentyeleven/style.css");

Change the values and you should be good to go.

Note: The Template name needs to be exactly the same as the folder name of the parent theme. It is case sensitive. Same thing goes for the import url.

I created a child theme from the delicate theme, all I needed for the child theme to show up was a new folder (delicatechild) and the style.css and it showed up for me in the admin.

One thing that did confuse me though at first was because all the theme description information was the same, I thought it wasn’t showing but then I realized delicate was my current theme and the child theme was indeed being listed below.

On thing you can do to separate the child themes visually in your admin is to edit the header comments of the child theme style.css file, which is what I did to the delicate theme. The original had the following:

/*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Theme Name:    Delicate
Theme URI:     http://www.nattywp.com/view-natty-theme.php?theme_id=99900&theme_name=Delicate
Description:   Delicate is a free professional WordPress theme built on the NattyWP CMS framework.
Version:       1.0
Author:        NattyWP

I changed the Theme Name to:

/*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Theme Name:    Delicate Child
Theme URI:     http://www.nattywp.com/view-natty-theme.php?theme_id=99900&theme_name=Delicate
Description:   Delicate is a free professional WordPress theme built on the NattyWP CMS framework.
Version:       1.0
Author:        NattyWP

So now on the admin side it shows Delicate Child as the title, so I know which one I am working with lol

You can download a basic Twenty Ten child theme from http://quirm.net/themes/twenty-ten-child/

jimmypader, i just ran into the same problem. this is a rather recent development because when i first installed my child theme, this problem did not occur. a few months later (i think after a twentyeleven theme update but i’m not sure) and all of a sudden i notice my child theme, though it’s working, is not recognized in the dashboard and there’s an error msg saying the theme folder does not exist. and the only visible themes under appearance are twentyten and twentyeleven. i’ve spent the past hour trying to figure out what was wrong with my child theme and adding an index.php file to the child theme folder is all it took. whatever change caused this sure flew under the radar. they need to get the word out that style.css AND index.php ARE BOTH required if you’re making a child of twentyeleven.