With the production version of Oracle XE the default is to not allow remote access to the web server.  This sometimes causes even local access to not work.  To fix run the following as sys: exec dbms_xdb.setListenerLocalAccess(false); Access to the web server will now be enabled.

How to create a VMware virtual machine to run Oracle Enterprise Linux using VMware Workstation 6. Startup VMware Workstation 6.Go to File -> New -> Virtual MachineClick Next Select Custom Select Workstation 5 * this is required if you are going to run the VM under VMware Server