diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index 69de126..f263972 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -1,40 +1,57 @@
-Mini-NDN Installing Instructions
+Mini-NDN Installation Instructions
 ================================
 
 ### What equipment will I need?
 
-Basically, you'll need a laptop/desktop with a recent Linux distro (Ubuntu, Fedora).
-We recommend Ubuntu. For this guide, the _Ubuntu 14.04 LTS_ was used.
-Also, note that you'll need administrative privileges in order to download and install
-extra packages and also to execute **Mini-NDN**.
+For this guide, you will need a laptop/desktop with a recent version
+of a Linux distro such as Ubuntu or any of its variants. Fedora is not
+officially supported but has also been reported to work for some
+users. For this guide, the _Ubuntu 18.04 LTS_ release was used.
+Also, note that you'll need administrative privileges in order to
+download and install extra packages and also to execute **Mini-NDN**.
 
 ### Installing **Mini-NDN**
 
+NOTE: Mini-NDN, while providing a high level of emulation of hosts,
+requires programs to be installed onto your computer. It will not work
+if they are not installed. If you do not want NDN software installed
+onto your computer, you can use a virtual machine, which can be quite
+simply set up with the provided vagrantfile.
+
 If you have all the dependencies (see sections below) installed simply clone this repository and run:
 
     ./install.sh -i
 
-else if you don't have the dependencies, the following command will install them along with Mini-NDN:
+else if you don't have the dependencies, the following command will install them from source along with Mini-NDN:
 
     ./install.sh -a
 
-else if you want to install the dependencies manually, follow the instructions below:
+If you want to install the dependencies manually or from the Named Data PPA, follow the instructions below:
 
 ### Installing NDN
 
-Each node in **Mini-NDN** will run the official implementation of NDN. The following dependencies are needed:
+Each node in **Mini-NDN** will run the official implementation of NDN installed on your system. The following dependencies are needed:
 
 Mini-NDN uses NFD, NLSR, and ndn-tools.
 
 To install NFD:
-http://named-data.net/doc/NFD/current/INSTALL.html
+https://named-data.net/doc/NFD/current/INSTALL.html
 
 To install NLSR:
-http://named-data.net/doc/NLSR/current/INSTALL.html
+https://named-data.net/doc/NLSR/current/INSTALL.html
 
 To install ndn-tools:
 https://github.com/named-data/ndn-tools
 
+Note that all three of these can be installed from the Named Data PPA. Instructions for setting it up can
+be found in the NFD insallation instructions. Note that PPA and installs from source **cannot** be mixed.
+
+###Special Instructions for PPA Installs
+
+If you are using a custom nfd.conf file in an experiment, you should place it in /usr/local/etc/ndn/
+rather than /etc/ndn/. This is to avoid a bug from the default configuration file for the PPA, which
+is incompatiable with Mini-NDN.
+
 ### Installing Mininet
 
 **Mini-NDN** is based on Mininet. To install Mininet:
@@ -43,8 +60,8 @@
 
     git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mininet/mininet.git
 
-After Mininet source is on your system, run the following command to install
-Mininet core dependencies and Open vSwitch:
+After Mininet source is on your system, run the following command to
+install Mininet core dependencies and Open vSwitch:
 
     ./util/install.sh -nv
 
@@ -52,13 +69,15 @@
 
     sudo mn --test pingall
 
-This will print out a series of statements that show the test setup and the results of the test. Look
-for `Results:` two-thirds of the way down where it will indicate the percentage of dropped packets.
+This will print out a series of statements that show the test setup
+and the results of the test. Look for `Results:` two-thirds of the way
+down where it will indicate the percentage of dropped packets.
 Your results should show "0% dropped (2/2 received)".
 
 ### Installing Infoedit
 
-Infoedit is used to edit configuration files such as NFD configuration file.
+Infoedit is used to edit configuration files such as NFD configuration
+file.
 
 To install infoedit:
 https://github.com/NDN-Routing/infoedit
@@ -70,4 +89,4 @@
 1. Issue the command: `sudo minindn --experiment=pingall --nPings=50`
 2. When the `mini-ndn>` CLI prompt appears, the experiment has finished. On the Mini-NDN CLI, issue the command `exit` to exit the experiment.
 3. Issue the command: `grep -c content /tmp/minindn/*/ping-data/*.txt`. Each file should report a count of 50.
-4. Issue the command: `grep -c timeout /tmp/minindn/*/ping-data/*.txt`. Each file should report a count of 0.
+4. Issue the command: `grep -c timeout /tmp/minindn/*/ping-data/*.txt`. Each file should report a count of 0.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bin/minindn b/bin/minindn
index 626b551..bd7c9fd 100755
--- a/bin/minindn
+++ b/bin/minindn
@@ -505,13 +505,10 @@
 
     setLogLevel('info')
 
-    # No exceptions are raised in ndn presently, and Mininet relies
-    # on generic Exception. If this situation changes this may well
-    # need to be altered.
     try:
         execute(options)
     except Exception as e:
-        print("Mininet Error: {}".format(e))
+        print("Error: {}".format(e))
         call(["nfd-stop"])
         call(["sudo", "mn", "--clean"])
-        sys.exit(1)
+        sys.exit(1)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ndn/nfd.py b/ndn/nfd.py
index 09e28d5..480e320 100644
--- a/ndn/nfd.py
+++ b/ndn/nfd.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 import time, sys, os
 from ndn.ndn_application import NdnApplication
+from ndn.util import copyExistentFile
 
 class Nfd(NdnApplication):
     STRATEGY_BEST_ROUTE = "best-route"
@@ -39,15 +40,11 @@
         self.ndnFolder = "{}/.ndn".format(node.homeFolder)
         self.clientConf = "{}/client.conf".format(self.ndnFolder)
 
-        # Copy nfd.conf file from /usr/local/etc/ndn to the node's home
-
+        # Copy nfd.conf file from /usr/local/etc/ndn or /etc/ndn to the node's home directory
         # Use nfd.conf as default configuration for NFD, else use the sample
-        if os.path.isfile("/usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf") == True:
-            node.cmd("sudo cp /usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf {}".format(self.confFile))
-        elif os.path.isfile("/usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf.sample") == True:
-            node.cmd("sudo cp /usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf.sample {}".format(self.confFile))
-        else:
-            sys.exit("nfd.conf or nfd.conf.sample cannot be found in the expected directory. Exit.")
+        possibleConfPaths = ["/usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf.sample", "/usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf",
+                             "/etc/ndn/nfd.conf.sample", "/etc/ndn/nfd.conf"]
+        copyExistentFile(node, possibleConfPaths, self.confFile)
 
         # Set log level
         node.cmd("infoedit -f {} -s log.default_level -v {}".format(self.confFile, self.logLevel))
@@ -60,9 +57,11 @@
         # Make NDN folder
         node.cmd("sudo mkdir {}".format(self.ndnFolder))
 
-        # Copy the client.conf file and change the unix socket
-        node.cmd("sudo cp /usr/local/etc/ndn/client.conf.sample {}".format(self.clientConf))
+        # Copy client configuration to host
+        possibleClientConfPaths = ["/usr/local/etc/ndn/client.conf.sample", "/etc/ndn/client.conf.sample"]
+        copyExistentFile(node, possibleClientConfPaths, self.clientConf)
 
+        # Change the unix socket
         node.cmd("sudo sed -i 's|nfd.sock|{}.sock|g' {}".format(node.name, self.clientConf))
 
         # Change home folder
@@ -75,4 +74,4 @@
 
     def setStrategy(self, name, strategy):
         self.node.cmd("nfdc strategy set {} ndn:/localhost/nfd/strategy/{}".format(name, strategy))
-        time.sleep(0.5)
+        time.sleep(0.5)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ndn/nlsr.py b/ndn/nlsr.py
index ab3c648..6c5572e 100644
--- a/ndn/nlsr.py
+++ b/ndn/nlsr.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 from mininet.examples.cluster import RemoteMixin
 
 from ndn.ndn_application import NdnApplication
-from ndn.util import ssh, scp
+from ndn.util import ssh, scp, copyExistentFile
 
 import shutil
 import os
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
         # Create root certificate
         rootName = NETWORK
         sh("ndnsec-keygen {}".format(rootName)) # Installs a self-signed cert into the system
-        sh("ndnsec-cert-dump -i {} > {}/root.cert".format(rootName, securityDir, securityDir))
+        sh("ndnsec-cert-dump -i {} > {}/root.cert".format(rootName, securityDir))
 
         # Create necessary certificates for each site
         for host in net.hosts:
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@
         self.hyperRadius = parameters.get("radius", 0.0)
         self.hyperAngle = parameters.get("angle", 0.0)
         self.neighborIPs = []
-        self.node.cmd("sudo cp /usr/local/etc/ndn/nlsr.conf.sample nlsr.conf")
+        possibleConfPaths = ["/usr/local/etc/ndn/nlsr.conf.sample", "/etc/ndn/nlsr.conf.sample"]
+        copyExistentFile(node, possibleConfPaths, "{}/nlsr.conf".format(self.node.homeFolder))
 
     def createConfigFile(self):
 
diff --git a/ndn/util.py b/ndn/util.py
index 7ccf5d0..0ed570d 100644
--- a/ndn/util.py
+++ b/ndn/util.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from subprocess import call
 from mininet.cli import CLI
 import sys
+from os.path import isfile
 
 sshbase = [ 'ssh', '-q', '-t', '-i/home/mininet/.ssh/id_rsa' ]
 scpbase = [ 'scp', '-i', '/home/mininet/.ssh/id_rsa' ]
@@ -40,6 +41,16 @@
     rcmd = scpbase + tmp
     call(rcmd, stdout=devnull, stderr=devnull)
 
+def copyExistentFile(node, fileList, destination):
+    for file in fileList:
+        if isfile(file):
+            node.cmd("cp {} {}".format(file, destination))
+            break
+    if not isfile(destination):
+        fileName = destination.split("/")[-1]
+        raise IOError("{} not found in expected directory.".format(fileName))
+
+
 class MiniNDNCLI(CLI):
     prompt = 'mini-ndn> '
     def __init__(self, mininet, stdin=sys.stdin, script=None):