Checksum error during installation

[Riccardo Paolo Bestetti]

Hello everyone,
I'm trying to get started with FreeBSD.
I'm installing version 10.3 on a VMWare virtual machine with the FreeBSD-10.3-STABLE-amd64-20170210-r313558-bootonly.iso image file, but I'm getting a checksum error after the package downloads:

Distribution checksum failed
An installation step has been aborted. Would you like to restart the installation or exit the installer?

This is even more frustrating because choosing "Restart" brings you to to the beginning of the installation, where you have to select the keymap again, redefining the partitioning options, and furthermore, for some reason I cannot identify, the system is unable to get a new DHCP lease (and not getting one again results in the system not having a DNS server, even if it was configured by the previous DHCP configuration, for some reason).

I tried the following HTTP mirrors:

  *   http://ftp4.se.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/
  *   http://ftp2.ru.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/

(Note that FTP outright fails, but that's probably my university blocking port 21).

I'm now installing using a disk image containing the components I need, but this probably has to be addressed!

I'll be happy to provide any additional information.

Best regards,
Riccardo Paolo Bestetti