A processor having the prior three user addressing modes and a new virtual system mode (VSM). The user modes include real mode, protected mode and virtual 8086 mode. In VSM, the processor can utilize the VSM addressing mechanism and the mode of operation prior to entering VSM. Transitions from the user modes to virtual system mode can be made by indirect calls through a call gate or through vectored entries. While in VSM the processor can utilize VSM memory and I/O space modes, but can also directly utilize the I/O space and memory of the user mode present prior to entry into VSM by using a segment override. The upper 16MB of the virtual system mode memory space (0.times.ff000000 through 0.times.ffffffff) is designated as non-mapped virtual system mode memory. Virtual system mode logical addresses below 0.times.ff000000 will be translated to physical addresses by the current page table if paging is enabled (protected mode). Upon exiting VSM, any processor registers that were saved are restored so the user mode operation can continue as if the emulation operation were performed by the normal interrupt service routine.