CompTIA A+ 1201 - 1.0 Operating Systems Flashcards
NOS
Network Operating System
Windows Server, Linux Server etc
Kernel
A core program that facilitates communication between the hardware and software in a computer, controlling and distributing hardware resources.
CLI
Command-Line Interface
GUI
Graphical User Interface
Shell
A computer program that allows for user input in the form of either CLI or GUI instructions.
Shell
|
Kernel
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CPU RAM SSD
Business Client
OS’s designed for use in an Enterprise/Business network.
Home Client
Standalone OS’s for home use or workgroups in a SOHO network.
OEM License
Original Equipment Manufacturer License
A license key for an OS that is valid only for the hardware on which it was purchased.
Retail License
A standalone license key for an OS that can be transferred to new PC’s but only “lit” once.
Windows 10 / 11 Editions
Home
Pro
Pro Workstation
Enterprise
Education
EOL Systems
End of Life Systems
Obsolete OS’s no longer supported / updated by the manufacturer.
Eg; Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
Windows Editions with Domain Access enabled
Pro
Enterprise
Education
Volume Licensing
Bulk purchasing of Windows licenses for use in an Enterprise network, often with a discount due to volume
Windows Home Edition
Doesn’t support multi CPU functionality
Doesn’t provide Domain access, Bitlocker
Multicore (up to 64)
128Gb RAM total
Windows Pro/Education Edition
2 CPU utilization
Allows for Domain access & Bitlocker
2Tb RAM total
Windows Pro Workstation Edition
4 CPU utilization
Allows for Domain access & Bitlocker
6Tb RAM total
Can utilize the ReFS file system
ReFS
Resilient File System
Upgrade from NTFS, most modern file system available BUT cannot be used as a boot drive.
Automatic integrity checking and data scrubbing (no need for chkdsk)
Built-in handling of hard disk failure and redundancy, with integration of RAID functionality
UX Control
User Experience Control
Allows for customization at the user level, if wanted.
Microsoft N Editions
Doesn’t include Windows Media Player, Skype, or any of the pre-installed media apps
Stripped down Windows version without multi-media.
Feature Updates
Identified with a name and a number, these updates change the features for the current build of Windows (21H2, 22H2 etc….)
NTFS
New Technology File System
Journaling - When data is written to an NTFS volume, it is re-read, verified and logged
Dynamic Disks - The disk management feature allows space on multiple physical disks to be combined into volumes.
Snapshots - This allows the Volume Shadows Copy Service to make read-only copies of files at given points in time even if the file is locked by another process.
Security - Features such as file permissions and ownership, file access, audit trails, quota management and encrypting file system (EFS)
POSIX Compliance - Supports UNIX / Linux compatibility
FAT32
File Allocation Table
Legacy file system, pre late 90’s.
Can be used for compatibility between operating systems / devices.
Eg; A thumb drive that works both in MacOS and Windows, uses FAT32
exFAT
Extensible File Allocation Table
Updated version of FAT32 that supports larger drives & file size
Over 4Gb
POSIX
POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) is a set of standard operating system interfaces based on the Unix operating system
Apple Operating Systems
Apple Mac OS
OS X
MacOS
Current supported versions of Apple OS’s
10.15 (Catalina)
11 (Big Sur)
12 (Monterey)
Spotlight
Feature of an Apple operating system
Finds files, apps, images etc…
Analogous to Windows Search
Finder
Feature of an Apple operating system
The central OS file manager
Analogous to Windows Explorer
Remote Disk
Feature of an Apple operating system
Allows for the network sharing of data from an optical drive, designed for copying files.
Will not work with AV data.
Mission Control
Feature of an Apple operating system.
Multiple desktop functionality, allows user to shrink the desktop and continue running apps
Keychain
Feature of an Apple operating system
Password management for files etc
System Preferences
Apple equivalent to Control Panel
Terminal
Apple equivalent to Command Line Interface
Image Recovery
Feature of an Apple operating system
Build disk images in Disk Utility
Creates an Apple Disk Image file (.dmg)
Force Quit
Apple equivalent to Task Manager
Boot Camp
Allows for Windows OS to be installed on a Mac device.
Builds a Boot Camp partition that allows for Dual-Boot
Disk Utility
Apple OS feature for disk and image management
Chrome OS
A proprietary Google manufactured operating system, for use in Chromebooks.
Based on Linux.
Designed to perform all tasks via the Internet and stores data in the cloud.
EXT
Extended File System
A Linux file system with 4 iterations (EXT1, 2, 3, 4)
VFAT
Virtual File Allocation Table
A file system introduced in Windows 95 that allows for the saving of documents with names longer than 8 characters.
NFS
Network File System
A distributed file system protocol that allows for cross-network data transfer of files.
APFS
Apple File System
Supports 64-bit addressing, journaling and encryption
Mount Point
A partition or volume mapped to a folder in another file system, rather than allocated a drive letter
UNIX
A family of operating systems typically running mission critical applications and infrastructure.
Interchangeable Shells run on the Kernel to provide the user interface.
Very adaptable and can be ported to many different hardware platforms.
Eg; Solaris, MacOS, Darwin, IBM AIX, HP-UX
apt-get, yum
Linux / UNIX system update command
Linux OS
A fully open-source OS Kernel, derived from UNIX.
Many ‘Distros’ (Distributions / Editions)
Android OS
A fully open-source mobile device OS derived from Linux
Distributions / Distros
A complete Linux package, including the Shell, the Kernel, apps and utilities that is distributed and supported by software vendors.
Eg; Red Hat, Suse, Debian/Ubuntu, Knoppix
Superuser / Root User
In Linux computing, this is the equivalent of an Administrator account
Wildcards
A special character used to substitute characters in a string, useful for searching for matching patterns / characters.
Eg; *.wav, *.Samuel
Options (Switches)
Modifiers used with commands to make it more versatile
Eg; Ipconfig /all, GPupdate /Usetheforce
Su
Linux Command
Become Super User (Elevate session)
Sudo
Linux Command
Execute a command as the Super User
Passwd
Linux Command
Change a User Account Password
Ps
Linux Command
View the current processes
Kill
Linux Command
Stop the CMD
Ifconfig
Linux Command
View of configure a network interface.
Iwconfig
Linux Command
View or change wireless networking configuration
Shutdown -h -r
Linux Command
Shutdown machine
-h is Hibernate
-r is Restart
ls
Linux Command
List Files
pwd
Linux Command
Print Working Directory (dir)
cd
Linux Command
Change Directory (same as cmd)
cp
Linux Command
Copy Files
mv
Linux Command
Move Files
rm
Linux Command
Remove Files
grep
Linux Command
Filter Files, find text in a file
NTUSER.DAT
A registry file located in C:\Users*username*
Contains all the user profile settings for an account
Roaming Profile
An NTUSER.DAT file is stored on the server, allowing for a user to sign into a different PC on a corporate network.
File Extension
Characters at the end of a file name; used by an OS to identify the application that is associated with a file.
Eg; .bat, .pdf, .wav
System Files
The files necessary for the operating system to function properly.
C:\Windows
C:\Program Files (x86)
C:\Users
EFI System Partition
A partition created upon an installation of Windows on a formatted hard drive.
Pre-OS boot partition that the BIOS/UEFI will check to get “directions” to the main boot partition.
MBR Style Partitioning
Can have up to 4 partitions (C, D, E, F) One of these must be active / bootable for the OS
Contains Boot Sectors contained in the Boot Partition, and a System Partition containing system files.
GPT Style Partitioning
Modern partitioning program required for 64-bit systems using UEFI firmware.
Supports up to 128 different partitions.
Allows for larger partitions and backups, also containing a backup MBR for backwards compatibility.
Attended Installation
An OS installation wherein the user responds to prompts from an install program to set configuration options etc…
Unattended Installation
An OS installation that receives instructions from an input file, used for provisioning machines in an enterprise setting.
(PXE Boot)
Clean Install
A clean install of an OS replaces the pre-existing OS, removes all settings, programs and wipes the disk.
Secure Boot
An option available in the UEFI that restricts an OS installation to trusted software. This may need to be disabled to install some OS’s.
Windows Logo’d Product List (LPL) and Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)
PC components have been tested for compatibility for use with Windows operating systems.
Multiboot
The process of setting up multiple operating systems installed physically on a disk, instead of utilising virtual machines.
Workgroup
A small group of computers on a network that share resources in a peer-to-peer fashion
Mostly used in SOHO situations.
Domain
A group of computers that share a common accounts database (Active Directory) used in enterprise environments.
Unattended Installation
Uses a script or a config file to input the choices and settings needed during setup.
Often utilising a Windows ANSWER file (*.xml)
Windows System Image Manager
An application that manages and configures ANSWER files.
Can automate the deployment of product keys, disk partitions, computer names, language and network/domain settings.
*.WIM
Windows Image File, used in automated deployment of devices.
Sysprep
Prepares the machine for hardware independence, stripping off all the unique identifiers (settings, license key, OS, etc) ready for provisioning.
Time Machine
MasOS built in backup utility.
Task Scheduler
Built-in Windows application that allows for the scheduling of one-time or recurring actions (backups etc)
You can define triggers, apply multiple actions to a single task, view log files for events connected to the task and organize tasks into folders.
Services
Services provide back-end functionality to Windows, such as: Logon, Networking Browsing, Indexing Files etc…
Installed by Windows and 3rd party vendors when installing software.
ODBC
Open Database Connectivity.
A programming language that allows for applications (like MS Access) to communicate with SQL or other advanced database management systems.
Simplifies database modification for end-users so they don’t have to learn programming.
msconfig
Utility that allows for booting into safe mode, modifying startup and the Windows boot method.
