User guide

6
C HAPTER 1
Introduction
In This Chapter
Virtual Machine Technology Overview................................................................................ 6
About Parallels Workstation ................................................................................................. 7
What's New in Parallels Workstation 2.2.............................................................................. 8
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x) and AMD SVM Support........................................ 10
Virtual Machine Equipment.................................................................................................. 11
Supported Guest Operating Systems..................................................................................... 12
Virtual Machine Technology
Overview
Virtual machine (VM) technology provides the following main features:
 Enables multiple guest operating systems (OSes) and their applications to simultaneously
run on a single computer.
 Creates a number of virtual machines, each with a full set of standard virtual hardware.
Operating systems and applications are isolated inside these virtual machines and share
physical hardware resources.
 Offers an opportunity to switch between operating systems without rebooting and to
consolidate and virtualize a computing environment, resulting in reduced hardware costs,
lower operating expenses, and increased productivity.
Notes: 1. "Primary operating system" (primary OS) denotes the operating system that controls
the I/O devices of the computer and that loads when the real computer is turned on.
2. "Guest operating system" (guest OS) is an operating system that runs under virtual machine
control. One primary OS and multiple guest OSes can be run at the same time on a single real
computer.