How Java Virtual Machine can work on system without virtualization support?

Question

If hardware support is a must for virtualization, how can Java Virtual Machines run on machines without support for virtualization ? Or is JVM not a virtual machine ?

Answer 1

It should be noted that nothing stipulates that a JVM does not (have to) have HW virtualization access. There are notable exceptions, but to which the answered poster alluded, few CPs exist that run Java bytecode natively. Maybe someday a Java bytecode HAL or TIMI will be commonplace to put the JVM into the same class as the formalized HW virtualization?