A virtual machine (VM) is an emulation of a computer system, offering isolated functionality. It runs a complete [Operating System](/wiki/operating_system) atop existing [Hardware](/wiki/hardware), independent of other systems. This abstraction allows diverse environments to coexist on a single physical host.
See also
[Cloud Computing](/wiki/cloud_computing)[Container](/wiki/container)[Hypervisor](/wiki/hypervisor)[Virtualization](/wiki/virtualization)