The List does not Exist

Problem

You have a SharePoint 2010 standard or enterprise farm. You want to create a custom site/page layout.  You go:

Site Actions > Site Settings > Master Pages

You select the Documents tab, and then click the New Document button in the ribbon.  You then experience the following error:

The list does not exist

You are able repeat this experience. 

Solution

There are many possible causes for this error, and you can find extensive discussion on the web regarding this error.  Before trying these various solutions, be sure to verify that SharePoint Server Publishing has been activated.  To do this go:

Site Actions menu > Site Settings > Site Actions section > Manage site features

Scroll down the list until you find SharePoint Server Publishing.  Verify that it has been activated.  If it hasn't, click Activate.  Once this completes, return to the Master Pages page and again attempt to create a new layout page.

References

• Enable publishing features in SharePoint 2010
• Publishing features overview (SharePoint Server 2010)