That, too, is hard without Apple hardware. KVM is probably the only virtual machine software that runs macOS with minimal fuss and patching outside of Apple hardware and it still requires a fair bit of work (though scripts exist to automate all of it.)
Many guides to creating Hackintosh setups hinge on having at least one existing Mac. The only saving grace for KVM is that people have developed tools to download macOS directly from the Mac App Store CDN and deal with the DMG image.
I run VMWare for cross-platform development and I can tell you I have no problems running Apple OS'es since Mountain Lion 10 years. I have around 20 VM's with different MacOS'es that I use/used for testing/development. No Apple hardware at all, only my good old custom PC that houses all of them
Ah, I also have used VMware Workstation to run macOS, although my Workstation 15 license has mostly collected dust thanks to KVM.
Since you’ve been doing this for a while, perhaps you’ve simply forgotten that running macOS natively on VMware outside macOS actually requires patching? Granted, there is a tool[1] for this that is pretty popular and easy to use. But it’s still required when running without hacks.
Finally, where are you getting your installation media? Apple only allows downloads of macOS installation media via the Mac App Store.
I suspect you may possibly be referring to using pre-configured Hackintosh VMs that use EFI emulation and FakeSMC instead of running natively. Frankly, I just don’t trust OS images from random sketchy third parties.
Actually I got an official Mountain Lion image from Apple way back 10 years ago, and ever since a new MacOS was out, I just copied my latest VM and run that one as a complete update. Couple hours later I was having their latest OS in new VM. So all my VM's have official Apple software, no 3rd party included. And yes, you are right, every time a new update for apps I use appear on store, I get hit with the message to update what I have. I simply just cancel and go on with my work. XCode is the most updated, I get hit with messages for it at least several times per week.
Oh, I see. Unfortunately I think it’s not as easy to bootstrap anymore. Having an existing Hackintosh VM obviously is a useful starting point, but getting one today is probably not super easy. So I can sympathize with folks who are having trouble.
