Which type of hypervisor runs directly on the physical hardware and operates like a standalone operating system?

A Type 1 hypervisor, also known as a bare-metal hypervisor, operates directly on the physical hardware of a host machine without requiring a separate operating system. This type of hypervisor manages the hardware resources and creates and runs virtual machines (VMs) in a highly efficient manner. Since it doesn't rely on an underlying OS, it can provide better performance and resource allocation than other types of hypervisors. This is particularly important in enterprise environments where maximizing performance and minimizing latency is critical.

In contrast, a Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of a host operating system, which can introduce additional overhead and sometimes affect performance. Application virtualization and containerization, while also methods of creating isolated environments for applications or processes, are fundamentally different as they do not create complete virtual machines that include their own operating systems. Instead, they generally operate within a shared OS environment. Thus, the characteristics of a Type 1 hypervisor—running directly on hardware and functioning like a standalone operating system—solidify its classification and function in virtualization technologies.