1. A method that transfers an active virtual partition from a first computer to a second, remote computer, the method executed on the first computer and the second computer, the method comprising: quiescing an operating system and application programs executing within the active virtual partition; creating a target virtual partition on the second computer; preparing an operating-system-execution-state image for the quiescent active virtual partition; transferring the operating-system-execution-state image from the first computer to the second computer, wherein transferring the operating-system-execution-state image from the first computer to the second computer further includes launching an operating-system-execution-state-image transfer routine in one of the active virtual partition or the target virtual partition; and reinstantiating execution state of the operating system encapsulated in the operating-system-execution-state image within the target virtual partition.