System and method for virtualizing the configuration space of PCI devices in a processing system

There is disclosed an apparatus for providing a virtual PCI device for use in a processing system comprising a data processor having an external peripheral bus coupled thereto in which peripheral devices associated with the external peripheral bus are controlled by accessing configuration circuitry associated with each of the peripheral devices. The apparatus comprises: a) an address trap circuit for detecting a configuration cycle accessing a virtual configuration address space associated with the virtual PCI device and generating an enable signal in response and b) an interrupt generation circuit associated with the address trap circuit that receives the enable signal and, in response, generates an interrupt signal that causes the data processor to execute instructions stored in system memory associated with the virtual device.