CompTIA Tech+ (FC0-U71)InfrastructureMedium
A user wants to run a virtual machine on their personal Windows laptop for testing purposes, without dedicating separate physical server hardware to the virtualization software. Which type of hypervisor best fits this need?
- AContainer engine
- BFirmware hypervisor
- CType 1 (bare-metal) hypervisor
- DType 2 (hosted) hypervisor
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Type 2 (hosted) hypervisor
A Type 2 (hosted) hypervisor runs as an application on top of an existing host operating system (like Windows), making it ideal for personal laptops running VMs for testing. Type 1 hypervisors run directly on hardware without a host OS, typically used in servers.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. A container engine shares the host OS kernel rather than virtualizing full hardware/OS instances.
- B. Firmware hypervisor is not a standard industry term for hypervisor types.
- C. A Type 1 hypervisor runs directly on hardware and does not require a host OS, unlike this scenario.
Type 2 (Hosted) Hypervisor
Virtualization software installed on top of an existing operating system, allowing a user to run guest VMs within that OS.
- Examples include VMware Workstation and Oracle VirtualBox
- Relies on the host OS for hardware access
- Easier to set up on personal computers than Type 1 hypervisors
Memory trick: Type 2 = 'Two layers deep' — OS first, hypervisor on top.