Control register access virtualization performance improvement in the virtual-machine architecture

A machine-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving a command pertaining to one or more portions of a register from a virtual machine (VM);
• determining whether the VM has access to the one or more portions of the register based on one or more indicators within a mask field that correspond to the one or more portions of the register, the one or more indicators indicating whether the one or more portions of the register are under control of the VM or a virtual machine monitor (VMM);
• executing the command on the portion of the register if the VM has access to each of the one or more portions of the register;
• and
• transferring control to the VMM upon determining that the VM does not have access to at least one of the one or more portions of the register based on the corresponding indicators within the mask field.