The problem was, the original VMware bundle had been shredded. Only a single, stubborn disk image remained— macOS_forensic.vmdk —copied to an external SSD seconds before the laptop’s firmware was wiped.
Elliot sat back. The missing piece: the sparsebundle's address was hardcoded in the script. He copied the URL, spun up a separate hardened Linux VM, and connected. mac os vmware image
The familiar chime echoed through his speakers. The Apple logo appeared, then a login screen with a single user profile: "S. Corrigan." The same name as the former client. Elliot smiled grimly. He’d expected a password wall. Instead, the image dropped him straight to a clean Catalina desktop—no password, no prompts. The problem was, the original VMware bundle had