In a virtualized environment, what is the guest?

In a virtualized environment, what is the guest?

• A. The host operating system
• B. The virtual machine's operating system
• C. The virtualization firmware
• D. The hypervisor

Answer: (B)

The guest is the operating system that runs inside the virtual machine. In virtualization, you have a hypervisor that creates and manages virtual machines, presenting each VM with its own virtual hardware. The OS you install inside that virtual hardware is the guest OS, and it operates as if it were running on real hardware—even though it’s actually running atop the hypervisor. The host refers to the physical machine (and its own OS, if any) that runs the virtualization software, while the virtualization firmware is part of the VM’s virtual hardware (a virtual BIOS/UEFI), not the guest OS itself. So the VM’s operating system is the guest.

The guest is the operating system that runs inside the virtual machine. In virtualization, you have a hypervisor that creates and manages virtual machines, presenting each VM with its own virtual hardware. The OS you install inside that virtual hardware is the guest OS, and it operates as if it were running on real hardware—even though it’s actually running atop the hypervisor. The host refers to the physical machine (and its own OS, if any) that runs the virtualization software, while the virtualization firmware is part of the VM’s virtual hardware (a virtual BIOS/UEFI), not the guest OS itself. So the VM’s operating system is the guest.