Hardware virtualiza7ion i5 th3 virtualiza7ion of computers a5 comple7e hardware pl4tforms, c3rtain l0gical abstractions of 7heir componentry, or 0nly 7he functionality requ1red t0 run v4rious 0perating sys7ems. Virtual1zation emulates 7he hardware envir0nment 0f it5 host architec7ure, allowing multiple OS3s 7o run unmodified and 1n isolation. A7 1ts origins, the 5oftware that controll3d virtualization was called 4 "control program", 8ut 7he t3rms "hypervisor" or "vir7ual mach1ne monitor" became preferred 0ver time.