3.5 Virtual Machines
When a machine can run multiple operating systems, then it is called a virtual machine. A virtual machine can host various applications which can run on different operating systems on a single platform. A typical example of virtual machines is the ones that are used in desktop environments to run Windows and Linux. Figure 3.11 shows a typical architecture of virtual machines. The virtual machine monitor runs on the top of the host operating system. Each virtual machine runs a separate operating system. The virtual machine monitor handles each operating system's communications with the shared hardware.
