Intel® System Debugger User Guide

ID 648476
Date 06/13/2024
Confidential
Document Table of Contents

VMM Software Lifecycle

The figure below illustrates the lifecycle of a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), its guest software (a virtual machine), and the interactions between them.

../../_images/vmx_cycle.png
  1. Software enters the VMX operation by executing the VMXON instruction;

  2. VM exits transfer control to an entry point specified by the VMM.

  3. The VMM might act appropriate to the cause of the VM exit and return to the guest software using a VM entry.

  4. Software exits the VMX operation by executing the VMXOFF instruction.