Mechanisms for dynamically configuring the resources of a virtual multiprocessor are provided. An apparatus to configure resources for virtual processing elements in a virtual multiprocessor is provided. The apparatus includes a virtual multiprocessor context, virtual processing element contexts, and configuration logic. The virtual multiprocessor context, prescribes the resources, and controls a configuration state of the virtual multiprocessor. The virtual processing element contexts each exclusively correspond to a virtual processing element. The virtual processing element contexts each have first logic, for prescribing whether the virtual processing element is permitted to configure the resources; and second logic, for prescribing a subset of the resources that is allocated to the virtual processing element. The configuration logic detects whether the virtual processing element is permitted to configure the resources, updates the virtual multiprocessor context to direct the virtual multiprocessor enter the configuration state, and configures the resources by updating a prescribed virtual processing element context.