Which of the following best describes a Type 2 hypervisor?

CompTIA A+ divides hypervisors into two main categories: Type 1 (bare-metal) and Type 2 (hosted). A Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of an existing host operating system such as Windows, macOS, or Linux. It relies on the host OS for device drivers, hardware interaction, and resource management. Examples include VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox, and Parallels Desktop.

Type 2 hypervisors are ideal for lab environments, testing, learning, and small-scale virtualization because they do not require dedicated hardware or direct hardware control. The host OS loads first, and the hypervisor runs as an application, allowing users to create and manage virtual machines from within the OS environment.

Option B describes a Type 1 hypervisor, which installs directly on hardware without a host OS. Option A is unrelated, as firewalls are separate from virtualization technology. Option D is incorrect because hypervisors do not inherently increase CPU capabilities; they merely allocate existing hardware resources to virtual machines.

Thus, the correct and CompTIA-aligned description of a Type 2 hypervisor is that it runs on a host operating system.