A first virtual machine is implemented on one or more computing devices to generate input/output (I/O) requests to a hardware device. A second virtual machine is also implemented on the computing devices. A mechanism is to switch between a direct mode and an indirect mode without switching between a first context and a second context of the hardware device. In the direct mode, the I/O requests generated by the first virtual machine are to be sent to the hardware device without being redirected to the second virtual machine. In the indirect mode, the I/O requests generated by the first virtual machine are to be redirected to the second virtual machine for processing. The second virtual machine is to, after processing the I/O requests redirected to the second virtual machine, send the I/O requests to the hardware device.