I installed Scientific Linux x86_64 6.4 on Vbox 4.2.12 on Windows 7. When I boot SL, Firefox has no internet access. The sha1sum and sha256sum both matched, so it appears that both dvd's completely downloaded. How can I get access to the internet?

You don't say if this is a wireless or wired connection. Assuming it's wireless you need to click on the network icon on the taskbar. It will have a red "X" on it. Click on your essid and you'll be prompted to supply a password for your wifi connection. Type that in and you should be connected.
jdk

It's a cable connection. I have Mageia and Ubuntu, as well, installed on the same Vbox and they both have internet access. The icon in the lower right corner that "indicates activity of network interfaces" says Adapter 1 (NAT): cable connected. When I open Firefox and uncheck Offline Mode, and Enter a url, Firefox responds with, "Server Not Found."

can you post the output of jdk

when installing SL6 you have to edit the boot arguments to include the word 'asknetwork' to configure the network at install time. Otherwise, you'll be doing it by hand.

eth0 Link encap: Ethernet HWaddr 08:00:27:3A:BB:9D
inet6 addr: fe80::a00:27ff:fe3a:b89d/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

lo Link encap: Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns: frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX: bytes:480 (480.0 b) TX bytes:480 (480.0 b)

Where should I enter asknetwork? The SL 6.x installation guide doesn't mention asknetwork.

when you install SL6,.. right after bios, you get a screen that starts counting down,..

https://www.scientificlinux.org/dist...oot.screen.png

press 'tab' or 'e' to edit the line
add 'asknetwork' to the line

press enter to start booting/installing

additionally i usually add 'linux text' so i can install in text mode without the gui.

my line looks like

post following to get better idea:

Also, let us know what type of network you have chosen in VB - Bridged or NAT?

If I just reinstall and say 'asknetwork', will the rest of the installation go as normaL, or will there be other esoteric undocumented commands I'll need to enter? It seems like it will be easier to just install it again. After 4 versions of SL6, they still don't have a way to set up internet access in the install. It doesn't make sense, and it's frustrating. Is everybody supposed to know about 'asknetwork'. Thank you for your help everyone.

Will the installation go as normal after I enter asknetwork?

Installation will go exactly the same, except it will ask for network configuration as well.

And its RHEL that you'd want to talk to about this strange network bit as SL6 is just a clone of it.

I suggest installing in text mode, as i cant remember if asknetwork will affect the gui install or not. Ive never installed SL6 with a gui before.

So:

'tab' or 'e' at boot and add: linux text asknetwork

to the end of the line.

Good luck!

SL 6 seems to be happier with wireless network connection. I described the process in my post above. SL works exactly like all the other distros I've installed having wireless connections.
jdk

This reply is from Firefox in SL 6.4. What a relief. It seems like I've been trying to get to this point for weeks.

Just fyi, particularly for any people searching this problem in the future, the text mode installation does NOT work for me. It lead to the same installation that I did a few days ago with an incomplete ISO. So entering "linux asknetwork" did the trick. Furthermore, in my case, I had to enter it at the intrd prompt as well as at the boot prompt. Thanks again everyone.

I don't know about it being a RH thing.
I run Centos, which is a very close copy of RHEL an it did ask me for network info at install (AFAIR)