The present invention provides a method and apparatus for starting an application. The method includes: receiving, via a first virtual machine, a startup instruction for starting an application on a second virtual machine, and acquiring startup information corresponding to the startup instruction, the startup information including information of the second virtual machine and information of the application on the second virtual machine; and starting the second virtual machine according to the information of the second virtual machine, and starting the application on the second virtual machine according to the information of the application on the second virtual machine. According to the technical solutions of the present application, a user is capable of directly starting the application on the second virtual machine in the operating environment of the first virtual machine, with no need to switch an operating system to find an application, and thus user's operations are convenient.