System and method for synchronizing memory management functions of two disparate operating systems

A memory management interface is provided to synchronize the operation of two disparate operating systems (OSes) that are executing on the same data processing platform. In one embodiment, the first operating system is a legacy OS of the type that is generally associated with an enterprise-level data processing system such as a mainframe. In contrast, the second OS is of a type designed to execute on commodity hardware such as personal computers. The first OS communicates with the second OS via a control logic interface to establish its execution environment, and to perform memory management functions. This interface supports a two-phase boot process that ensures that all memory allocated to the first OS can be released if an error occurs that affects operations of the first OS. This prevents the development of memory leaks.