I stopped using VMware products 12+ years ago. I too found them ever more complicated to administer. I suspect that the problems stem from the many different i

I stopped using VMware products 12+ years ago. I too found them ever more complicated to administer. I suspect that the problems stem from the many different implementations of virtualisation support in CPUs, with increased mitigations for HeartBleed and similar attacks. Perhaps some of your problems stem from Windows having ever more complex TPM, EFI etc requirements. Also possible that Intel management engine is causing interactions. With each new generation CPUs have become ever more complex. Some of those capabilities just cannot be accurately emulated.