A: No. M1/M2 Macs cannot run macOS Catalina virtualized because Catalina does not support ARM architecture. You must run Monterey or later on Apple Silicon.
Now that you have your ISO, you can run macOS Catalina on VMware, VirtualBox, an external drive, or an older Intel Mac that you want to keep frozen in time at version 10.15.7 – the final, most polished release of the Catalina era.
You do not need an ISO for this—use the .app directly. But if you only have the ISO: Macos Catalina Iso Image - Download
The safest method to obtain a macOS Catalina ISO is to using the official installer downloaded directly from Apple. This ensures the integrity of the code and guarantees a safe installation.
When you download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store, you receive a .app file (specifically named Install macOS Catalina.app ). This file is designed to run on Mac hardware to upgrade the OS or install it on a physical drive. Now that you have your ISO, you can
An ISO image is a type of file that contains the installation data for an operating system, in this case, macOS Catalina. It's essentially a snapshot of the installation media that can be used to create a bootable installer.
You now have a clean, official macOS Catalina ISO image on your Desktop. File size ~8.3 GB. This ensures the integrity of the code and
use a torrent or third-party file-hosting site claiming to offer a "pre-made Catalina ISO." The risk of ransomware or keyloggers is extremely high.