download full install of macOS Catalina for VM

Don't use Firefox for these links...

Catalina…

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?ls=1&mt=12

Try the standalone in Safe Mode...

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2048?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

1. Connect the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer. Make sure that it has at least 12GB of available storage and is formatted as Mac OS Extended.
2. Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
3. Type or paste one of the following commands in Terminal. These assume that the installer is still in your Applications folder, and MyVolume is the name of the USB flash drive or other volume you're using. If it has a different name, replace MyVolume in these commands with the name of your volume.Catalina:*

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Not saying it's impossible at all, but my bet is that VMware won't allow it on pupose...

"License, unless you obtained the Apple Software from the Mac App Store, through an automatic

download or under a volume license, maintenance or other written agreement from Apple, you are

granted a limited, non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a

single Apple-branded computer at any one time. For example, these single-copy license terms apply to

you if you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled on Apple-branded hardware."

https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOSCatalina.pdf

Depending on the Virtual Machine that you plan to use, some (e.g. Parallels) can install the macOS guest directly from the macOS installer .dmg.

Any luck yet?

Hmmm, does Apple Allow OSX to run on non-Apple Hardware?

But, even the Licenses they do sell, require that it be installed & run only on Apple Hardware... & I'm not on your case, just trying to point out your difficulty.