A method for supporting address translation in a virtual machine environment where content of a guest translation data structure of a virtual machine "VM" is modified to conform to content of a shadow translation data structure maintained by a virtual machine monitor "VMM" upon receiving control transitioned from the VM due to a privileged event indicating an attempt to manipulate a translation-lookaside buffer "TLB", the method being characterized by: determining which entries in the guest translation data structure were modified by the VM, based on metadata extracted from the shadow translation data structure and attributes associated with entries in the shadow translation data structure; and synchronizing a first set of the entries in the shadow translation data structure with the modified entries in the guest translation data structure, without processing a second set of the entries from the shadow translation data structure, wherein the first set of the entries in the shadow translation data structure includes entries that correspond to the modified entries from the guest translation data structure, and the second set of the entries in the shadow translation data structure includes entries that do not correspond to the modified entries from the guest translation data structure; wherein the metadata includes a set of vectors, an active entry list, and one or more active directory lists and wherein: each vector in the set identifies frames used as pages at a corresponding level of the guest translation data structure; the active entry list identifies mappings that map pages used in forming the guest translation data structure for which a shadow translation data structure exists; and the one or more active directory lists identify higher level mapping structures referencing a lower level structure through which the shadow translation data structure can be accessed. determining which entries in the guest translation data structure were modified by the VM, based on metadata extracted from the shadow translation data structure and attributes associated with entries in the shadow translation data structure; and synchronizing a first set of the entries in the shadow translation data structure with the modified entries in the guest translation data structure, without processing a second set of the entries from the shadow translation data structure, wherein the first set of the entries in the shadow translation data structure includes entries that correspond to the modified entries from the guest translation data structure, and the second set of the entries in the shadow translation data structure includes entries that do not correspond to the modified entries from the guest translation data structure; wherein the metadata includes a set of vectors, an active entry list, and one or more active directory lists and wherein: each vector in the set identifies frames used as pages at a corresponding level of the guest translation data structure; the active entry list identifies mappings that map pages used in forming the guest translation data structure for which a shadow translation data structure exists; and the one or more active directory lists identify higher level mapping structures referencing a lower level structure through which the shadow translation data structure can be accessed. each vector in the set identifies frames used as pages at a corresponding level of the guest translation data structure; the active entry list identifies mappings that map pages used in forming the guest translation data structure for which a shadow translation data structure exists; and the one or more active directory lists identify higher level mapping structures referencing a lower level structure through which the shadow translation data structure can be accessed.