sat with fifty other open tabs, a graveyard of failed attempts.

Apple does not distribute macOS as an ISO. Official distribution channels are:

(Useful only for specific, tech-savvy users — but generally unreliable and risky)

: The primary use for a macOS ISO is installing the OS within hypervisors like VMware Workstation or VirtualBox . These platforms require an ISO format to boot the installer and format the virtual hard drive via Disk Utility.

The air in the room was thick with the hum of overclocked fans and the faint smell of ozone. Elias sat hunched over his custom-built PC, eyes bloodshot from staring at lines of verbose boot text. On his desk lay a single, generic 32GB USB drive—the vessel for his latest obsession: a .

relies on the Vanilla method :

He plugged the drive in and hit the power button. The screen flickered to life. Instead of the familiar Windows logo, the OpenCore bootloader appeared, offering him a choice. He selected Install macOS Sequoia .