Microsoft confirmed that TPM 2.0 support is now required to run Windows on a virtual machine, which means that users can no longer install Windows 11 on an older, spare PC or laptop.
In the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.194 changelog, Microsoft clarified the requirements for running Windows 11 on a virtual machine, stating that the system requirements for Windows 11 on a virtual machine (VM) will be the same as a physical PC, and that VMs previously created to run the Insider Preview version will not be updated to the latest preview version. In Hyper-V, the VM needs to be created as a 2nd generation VM.
In addition, Microsoft states that hardware requirements must be met to run Windows 11 in VMs from other virtualization products from vendors such as VMware and Oracle to continue to work, which also indicates that Windows 11 will only work in VMWare Workstation Pro or Hyper-V Manager included with Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise Windows. Hyper-V Manager included with Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise Windows. For more details on Windows 11 system requirements, you can refer to this blog post.