1. First, download MacOS Mojave installer, or the MacOS Catalina installer (or the installer you wish to turn into an ISO) from the Mac App Store (direct links to most installers can be found in this article).

    How to download macOS from official

  2. When the “Install MacOS Mojave.app” or “Install MacOS Catalina.app” application is fully downloaded and within the /Applications folder, proceed

  3. Next, open the Terminal application

  4. Create a disk image (DMG) large enough to hold the bootable installer. For Catalina or below, 8500 MB is enough but newer versions may require a larger disk image size.

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    hdiutil create -o /tmp/<macOS name> -size 8500m -volname <macOS name> -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
    

    Note that the names mentioned here are temporary and can be renamed if needed.

  5. Mount the freshly created disk image (DMG). The createinstallmedia expects it (just like with an USB flash device):

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    hdiutil attach /tmp/<macOS name>.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/macOS
    
  6. Next, like with a regular USB flash media, run the createinstallmedia command to create the installation media inside the mounted disk image:

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    sudo /Applications/Install macOS <macOS name>.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/<macOS name> --nointeraction
    
  7. When createinstallmedia has finished, next you can unmount the volume you just created:

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    hdiutil detach /volumes/Install macOS <macOS name>
    
  8. Now we convert the DMG disk image file to an ISO disk image file (technically a CDR file but it’s the same as an iso):

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    hdiutil convert /tmp/<macOS name>.dmg -format UDTO -o ~/Desktop/<macOS name>.cdr
    
  9. After the conversion is completed, you can decide to keep or delete the original disk image (macOS.dmg). If necessary, rename the CDR file to ISO to be able to use it in VMware Fusion or VirtualBox.

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    mv ~/Desktop/<macOS name>.cdr ~/Desktop/<macOS name>.iso
    

scripts

create_iso_catalina.sh
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#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Bail at first Catalina ISO creation error
set -e
hdiutil create -o ~/Downloads/Catalina.cdr -size 7316m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/Catalina.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
sudo ~/Downloads/"Install macOS Catalina".app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/install_build --nointeraction
hdiutil detach "/Volumes/Install macOS Catalina"
hdiutil convert ~/Downloads/Catalina.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o ~/Downloads/Catalina.iso
mv ~/Downloads/Catalina.iso.cdr /Volumes/"USB_STICK_NAME"/Catalina.iso
rm ~/Downloads/Catalina.cdr.dmg
create_iso_mojave.sh
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#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Bail at first Mojave ISO creation error
set -e
hdiutil create -o ~/Downloads/Mojave.cdr -size 7316m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/Mojave.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
sudo ~/Downloads/"Install macOS Mojave".app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/install_build --nointeraction
hdiutil detach "/Volumes/Install macOS Mojave"
hdiutil convert ~/Downloads/Mojave.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o ~/Downloads/Mojave.iso
mv ~/Downloads/Mojave.iso.cdr /Volumes/"USB_STICK_NAME"/Mojave.iso
rm ~/Downloads/Mojave.cdr.dmg

Installing Mac OS X in VMWare Workstation on Windows

  1. Download and install VMWare Workstation. But to do that, you need to disable Hyper-V first.
  2. Download VMWare unlocker and run windows/install.cmd script. It allows to choose Mac OS X system during VM creation later on.
  3. Convert Mac OS X image (Mountain Lion in my case) from .dmg to .iso (using dmg2img).
  4. Create VM for Mac OS X and choose created Mac OS X .iso file in new VM settings -> hardware -> CD/DVD (SATA) -> Use ISO image file
  5. Run Virtual Machine and install Mac OS X (described in mentioned article).
  6. Install VMWare tools (also described in mentioned article).

Once Mac OS X is installed and running I updated Mountain Lion to Mavericks. That was easy and went smoothly. Additionally I recommend to do following:

  1. Enable shared folders (they are located in /Volumes/VMWare Shared Folders/NAME_OF_FOLDER)
  2. Install TotalFinder
  3. Install iTerm 2
  4. Install Witch
  5. Install SublimeText 3
  6. Install Xcode (not only for iOS development, it contains e.g. gcc compiler)

Reference

Create a macOS bootable ISO from the installer

How to Convert a MacOS Installer to ISO

How to Download a Full Size MacOS Mojave Installer

Installing Mac OS X in VMWare Workstation on Windows 8

How to install Apple macOS in VMware Workstation on Windows

OS_X_El_Capitan by techrechard

USB.Flash.Install.OS.X.El.Capitan.10.11.6.w9.dmg

OS_X_El_Capitan.dmg

macOS系统下载

Mac OS X 10.11

使用VMware安装macOS Sierra虚拟机

Mac OS X 官方原版镜像下载

VMware 10 安装Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks

製作 OS X Mavericks 10.9 開機光碟(ISO)

downgrade_macos