What type of hypervisor runs directly on the host's hardware rather than on top of the operating system?

A Type 1 hypervisor, also known as a bare-metal hypervisor, operates directly on the host's hardware without needing an underlying operating system. This allows it to manage guest virtual machines more efficiently, as it has direct access to the physical resources of the host machine, such as the CPU, memory, and storage. Running directly on the hardware also leads to better performance and resource management because it eliminates the overhead associated with an intermediary operating system.

In contrast, a Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of a conventional operating system. This means it relies on the host OS for resource management and system calls, which can introduce latency and reduce overall execution efficiency. Hybrid and hosted VMs generally refer to variations of these concepts; however, when it comes to hypervisors, the distinction is clear between those that operate directly on hardware and those that depend on an existing OS. Thus, considering the definitions and functional characteristics, the Type 1 hypervisor is indeed the correct choice here.