Provided is a method and apparatus for storing and restoring a state of a virtual machine on a virtual machine monitor. The method of storing a state of a second virtual machine in a predetermined storage device by a first virtual machine on a virtual machine monitor includes determining whether the state of the second virtual machine has changed, by comparing a previous state of the second virtual machine, which has already been stored in the storage device, with a current state of the second virtual machine and selectively storing the state of the second virtual machine based on a result of the determination, thereby minimizing time required to store or restore the state of the second virtual machine.