neowin[.]net/news/windows-11-build-22000194-adds-update-block-for-virtual-machines-in-beta-channel/
A new, smaller cumulative update was pushed out to Win11 Insiders yesterday that, along with a few fixes, apparently blocks new preview builds if the TPM requirement is not met. Not a lot of info on this, and it'll be next week if/when Microsoft releases a new version or build before we find out if a downloaded copy of the update installs without the required TPM -- Windows Update could just not offer the new build if TPM was not present, or the update itself could perform a compliance check. Microsoft's wording isn't all that clear:
This build includes a change that aligns the enforcement of the Windows 11 system requirements on Virtual Machines (VMs) to be the same as it is for physical PCs. Previously created VMs running Insider Preview builds may not update to the latest preview builds. In Hyper-V, VMs need to be created as a Generation 2 VM.
For one thing, they did not allow Win11 to install normally in a VirtualBox [Oracle] VM -- it's not like setup said: "Oh, this is a VM, so no checking qualifications". If I wanted to get picky, I'd also point out that Microsoft didn't say "Cannot" or "Will not" update -- saying a copy of Windows "May Not Update" is kind of normal by now, given how many folks have had problems with Win10's Windows Update not working the way that it should.
With just over 2 weeks remaining until Win11 is released, it's not that big of a deal -- we'll just have to wait and see. Microsoft could get serious about Win11's TPM requirement, making it a lot harder to run Win11 on older hardware without TPM, or not. Microsoft has always felt that they had to be extremely careful about what they say. afraid that somebody would sue them at the drop of a hat. And they do listen, changing their mind if/when there's enough customer push-back.