Which of the following is a characteristic of a Type 1 hypervisor?

A Type 1 hypervisor is known as a bare-metal hypervisor because it installs directly on the physical server hardware without requiring a traditional host operating system underneath it. This architecture is a key characteristic emphasized in CompTIA A+ Core 1 virtualization concepts. By running directly on the hardware, a Type 1 hypervisor generally offers better performance, stronger isolation, and improved stability compared to hosted virtualization because there is less overhead from an additional OS layer. It also allows the hypervisor to manage CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources more efficiently for multiple virtual machines.

Option A describes a Type 2 (hosted) hypervisor, which relies on an existing host OS (like Windows, macOS, or Linux) and runs as an application. Option C, “lightweight OS,” can be misleading—some Type 1 hypervisors include a minimal management layer, but the defining point is direct installation on the hardware, not simply being lightweight. Option D is not a distinguishing feature because both Type 1 and Type 2 solutions can offer local configuration tools. Therefore, the best answer is Bare-metal server installation.