Patent ID: 8751781

Claim:
A client hosted virtualization system (CHVS) comprising: an authentication device; a processor operable to execute code; and a non-volatile memory including first code to implement a basic input/output system to initialize the CHVS and second code to implement a virtualization manager operable to: authenticate a first virtual machine image associated with a first virtual machine; launch a first portion of the first virtual machine on the CHVS based on the first virtual machine image, wherein the first portion of the first virtual machine is operable to initiate a first authentication session with the authentication device; receive an authentication object from the authentication device in response to the first portion of the first virtual machine initiating the first authentication session; send the authentication object to the first portion of the first virtual machine; and launch a second portion of the first virtual machine; wherein the CHVS is configurable in a first configuration to execute the first code and not the second code, and is configurable in a second configuration to execute the second code and not the first code.