Patent ID: 8261265

Claim:
In a computer system comprising a virtual machine monitor (VMM) running on system hardware and supporting a virtual machine (VM) having a first application and a guest OS running therein, a method of transferring control to a first handler program associated with the first application, the method comprising: the VMM receiving a first request from the first application; the VMM attempting to access the first data needed to process the first request; the VMM, upon determining that it cannot access the first data, suspending the first application and transferring control to the first handler program; the first handler program providing the first data such that the first data can be accessed by the VMM and transferring control back to the VMM; the VMM processing the first request and the first application resuming execution, wherein at least one of: the transfer of control between the VMM and the first handler program and execution of the first handler program is transparent to the guest OS.