A hypervisor that relies on a host operating system to provide virtualization services is known as which type?

A hypervisor that relies on a host operating system to provide virtualization services is known as which type?

• A. Type 1 Hypervisors
• B. Type 2 Hypervisors
• C. Bare-metal Hypervisors
• D. Cloud Hypervisors

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is where the hypervisor sits relative to the host operating system. A hypervisor that relies on a host OS to provide virtualization services is a hosted (or Type 2) hypervisor. It installs on top of an existing operating system (like Windows, macOS, or Linux) and uses that host OS to access hardware resources and to manage virtual machines. This means the virtualization features come through the host OS rather than directly from the hardware. Examples you might have seen are VirtualBox or VMware Workstation, which run as applications inside a regular operating system and leverage that OS to handle hardware access, drivers, and I/O. In contrast, a bare-metal or Type 1 hypervisor runs directly on the hardware, with no underlying host OS, providing virtualization services straight to the hardware. The term cloud hypervisor isn’t a standard classification like these two, and in practice cloud environments typically use Type 1 hypervisors to maximize performance and control.

The key idea here is where the hypervisor sits relative to the host operating system. A hypervisor that relies on a host OS to provide virtualization services is a hosted (or Type 2) hypervisor. It installs on top of an existing operating system (like Windows, macOS, or Linux) and uses that host OS to access hardware resources and to manage virtual machines. This means the virtualization features come through the host OS rather than directly from the hardware.

Examples you might have seen are VirtualBox or VMware Workstation, which run as applications inside a regular operating system and leverage that OS to handle hardware access, drivers, and I/O.

In contrast, a bare-metal or Type 1 hypervisor runs directly on the hardware, with no underlying host OS, providing virtualization services straight to the hardware. The term cloud hypervisor isn’t a standard classification like these two, and in practice cloud environments typically use Type 1 hypervisors to maximize performance and control.