Processor feature ID response for virtualization

A computing device, comprising:

• a memory and a processor that are respectively configured to store and execute instructions, including instructions for causing the computing device to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• prior to a request from software executing in a guest partition for processor feature ID information, determining by a supervisory partition, the processor feature ID information that is to be returned by the processor in response to the request from the software executing in the guest partition for the processor feature ID information;
• and
• providing, by the supervisory partition, the determined processor feature ID information to the processor for storage by the processor in a hardware register and for later use by the processor in responding to requests from the software for the processor feature ID information from the hardware register without intervention of the supervisory partition.

A method for operating a virtual machine on a computing device, comprising:

• determining, by the virtual machine executing on the computing device, that a processor feature ID value is to be obtained for use by the virtual machine;
• sending, by the virtual machine, a request for a processor feature ID to a processor of the computing device;
• and
• in response the request, receiving the requested processor feature ID from the processor, wherein the received processor feature ID was provided by the processor, without intervention of a supervisory partition, from information stored in a hardware register accessible to the processor, and wherein the information stored in the hardware register accessible to the processor was provided a priori to the processor by the supervisory partition.