Store the Virtual Machine under your own "My Documents/My Virtual Machines". Creating the machine elsewhere might cause you not to be able to write on your virtual hard disk.
Use Bridged Networking
Disk space: Default to 8 gb, Check Do not allocate disk space in advance (this will save time)
Check the "2 gb" check box at the bottom of the disk allocation screen
Configure the CD-ROM to use the Fedora Core 8 ISO Image. Do not skip this step. Do not start the Virtural Machine until you can see in the machine settings that you have attached the ISO image to the CD-Rom drive.
Use the tab key and the space bar while the Linux install process is in character mode.
Skip the media check.
Since 6 character passwords are not allowed, use "linuxadmin" when you are propted to assign a password. (Note: later on you will be asked to define another userid and password. You must remember this userid and password for later use. You must also remember the linuxadmin is the password for the userid "root".)
One the option screen leave "Office Productivity checked" but also check "customize now" at the bottom of the screen
On the customization screen: Click "Servers" on the left and then check "FTP", Server configuration tools", and "Widows file server" on the right side of the screen.
Wait about 1 hour for many software packages to be installed.
On the firewall screen, allow "ftp", "ssh", and "samba".
Disable "SELinux". Turning off Security Enhanced Linux will make the final Linux exercise easier.
Start the Firefox Browser and confirm that you can reach http://www.dom.edu
Play with some of the other features of linux.
To get a to a Linux command line, Select "Applications/System Tools/Terminal"