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Operating Systems

10 free questions with worked answers, and 320 more in the full bank.

Free questions

More Operating Systems questions (page 5 of 6)

Answers and explanations are in the full bank.

• In a cron job, an administrator writes backup.sh > /dev/null 2>&1. What is the effect? · 3 marks
• Which command creates a gzip-compressed archive named site.tar.gz containing the /var/www directory? · 2 marks
• The /var partition on a server is 95% full. Which command shows how much space each directory directly under /var uses, in readable units, largest last? · 3 marks
• Which command shows the size, used space and free space of each mounted file system in human-readable units? · 1 mark
• A junior administrator wants to read the built-in documentation for the tar command, including all its options. What should they type? · 1 mark
• An administrator runs chmod 755 deploy.sh. What permissions does the file now have? · 3 marks
• Running ./backup.sh returns “Permission denied”, even though the user owns the file. What is the usual fix? · 2 marks
• Files uploaded by root into /var/www/portal cannot be read by the web server, which runs as the user www-data. Which command gives www-data ownership of the whole directory? · 2 marks
• ls -l shows -rwxr-x--- 1 aline finance 2048 salaries.sh. Which statement is correct? · 3 marks
• On Ubuntu, what does putting sudo in front of a command, as in sudo apt install nginx, do? · 1 mark
• Which Linux command lets a user change their own password? · 1 mark
• To add user eric to the docker group, an administrator runs usermod -G docker eric. Afterwards eric has lost access to the sudo and finance groups. What should have been typed? · 3 marks
• After switching between several accounts on a server, an administrator wants to confirm which user they are currently logged in as. Which command prints it? · 1 mark
• On a Linux server, /etc/passwd can be read by every user. Where are the password hashes actually stored, and why? · 3 marks
• Which command lists every running process on a Linux system, with its owner, process ID and CPU and memory use? · 2 marks
• A Linux server is suddenly slow. Which command shows a continuously updated view of the processes using the most CPU and memory? · 1 mark
• Why should an administrator try kill 4312 before kill -9 4312 when stopping a hung process? · 3 marks
• An administrator starts a four-hour data import over SSH, but the import stops whenever their connection drops. Which approach keeps it running after they disconnect? · 2 marks
• Users report that the web portal is down. Which command shows whether the nginx service is running, since when, and its most recent log lines? · 2 marks
• An administrator installs a service and runs systemctl start app. It works, but after the next reboot the service is not running. What was missing? · 3 marks
• On a systemd-based server, which command shows the log messages written by the ssh service only? · 2 marks
• An administrator suspects someone is trying to guess SSH passwords on an Ubuntu server. Which log file records the failed login attempts? · 2 marks
• A crontab entry reads 30 2 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/backup.sh. When does the backup run? · 3 marks
• On Ubuntu, what is the difference between apt update and apt upgrade? · 2 marks
• A vendor asks which Linux kernel version a server is running. Which command answers this? · 2 marks
• Which command shows how much RAM and swap a Linux server has in use and available, in readable units? · 1 mark
• On a server with 4 processor cores, uptime reports load average: 7.9, 8.1, 8.0. What does this suggest? · 2 marks
• A new virtual disk has been attached to a Linux server. Which command lists all disks and partitions, with their sizes and mount points, to find it? · 2 marks
• Which command powers off a Linux server immediately, shutting services down cleanly? · 1 mark
• Typing long paths such as /etc/nginx/sites-available/ is slow and error-prone. Which key completes file and command names in the Linux shell? · 1 mark
• Which Windows Command Prompt command lists the files and folders in the current directory? · 1 mark
• The Command Prompt window is full of old output. Which command clears it? · 1 mark
• Which Command Prompt command displays the contents of a text file, such as notes.txt, in the window? · 1 mark
• In the Windows Command Prompt, which command renames report_old.docx to report_2026.docx? · 1 mark
• A help-desk technician on the phone asks a user for their computer's name. Which command shows it quickly? · 1 mark
• How can you see the options available for the xcopy command directly in the Command Prompt? · 1 mark
• Which command, typed in the Run box or Command Prompt, opens a window showing the exact Windows version and build number? · 1 mark
• A technician runs del /s /q *.tmp in C:\Projects. What happens? · 2 marks
• Two versions of a configuration file, old.ini and new.ini, should be almost identical. Which Command Prompt command shows the lines that differ? · 2 marks
• Windows shows strange errors, and a technician suspects damaged system files. Which command, run as administrator, checks the protected system files and repairs them? · 2 marks
• An administrator runs chkdsk C: /f, and Windows asks whether to schedule the check for the next restart. Why? · 2 marks
• A new Group Policy setting has just been linked in Active Directory, and the technician wants a PC to apply it now rather than waiting. Which command does this? · 2 marks
• Which single command shows a PC's Windows version, original install date, last boot time, installed updates (hotfixes) and total RAM? · 2 marks
• A technician wants to see only the running processes whose name contains “chrome”. Which command does this in the Command Prompt? · 2 marks
• A frozen program with process ID 7720 will not close from its window. Which command ends it from the Command Prompt? · 2 marks
• Which command lists the local user accounts on a Windows PC, and with a user name added, shows details such as when the password was last set? · 2 marks
• Which command maps the network share \\fileserver\finance to drive letter F: and keeps the mapping after restart? · 2 marks
• The prompt shows C:\Users\aline>, and the user types cd D:\Reports, but the prompt stays on C:. Which command switches to that folder on D: in one step? · 2 marks
• A technician uses robocopy D:\Data E:\Backup /MIR for nightly backups. What must they understand about /MIR? · 3 marks
• sfc /scannow reports that it found corrupt files but could not repair some of them. What should the technician run next? · 3 marks
• A policy that should block USB storage is not taking effect on one PC. Which command shows which Group Policy Objects were actually applied to the computer and user? · 3 marks
• During an audit, an officer must check who has local administrator rights on a Windows server. Which command lists them? · 3 marks
• In diskpart, a technician types list disk, then select disk 1, then clean, intending to wipe a USB drive. Why is checking the list disk output so important? · 3 marks
• A PC fails to start with an error about the Boot Configuration Data. From the Command Prompt in the Windows Recovery Environment, which command scans for Windows installations and adds them back to the boot configuration? · 3 marks
• A staff laptop's battery now lasts only 40 minutes. Which command produces a report comparing the battery's design capacity with its current full-charge capacity? · 3 marks
• In PowerShell, how can you see usage examples for the Get-Service cmdlet? · 1 mark
• Running sfc /scannow shows “You must be an administrator running a console session”. What should the technician do? · 1 mark
• Which command, typed in the Run box (Windows + R), opens Device Manager directly? · 1 mark
• In a command such as cat access.log | grep 404, what does the | symbol do? · 1 mark
• Which command opens a secure remote shell as user aline on the server at 10.20.1.15? · 1 mark