Lesson 2: Managing Windows Flashcards
What does MMC stand for?
Microsoft Management Console
When configuring a task, what is the function of a trigger?
a. Determines which command, script, or executable is run by the taske
b. Has no function related to Task Scheduler
c. Determines when or how the task executes
d. Determines whether the task is enabled or not
c. Determines when or how the task executes
True or false? In Disk Management, it is possible to reformat the boot partition.
False
In Disk Management, you cannot reformat the boot partition while the system is running. The boot partition is the one that contains the operating system, and it is in use during normal system operation. Reformatting it would make the system unbootable.
To reformat the boot partition, you would need to boot from a separate disk (such as a Windows installation disk or recovery disk) and perform the reformat operation outside of the normal system environment.
Thus, Disk Management does not allow you to reformat the boot partition while the operating system is actively running.
devmgmt.msc
Device Manager
Which console allows you to view and edit the properties of installed hardware. Change hardware configuration settings, update drivers, or remove/disable devices.
Device Manager
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diskmgmt.msc
Disk Management console
What does Disk Management console host? (4)
- fixed and removable disks
- hard disk drives (HDDs)
- solid state drives (SSDs)
- optical drives—attached to the system.
What are the 3 volumes on Disk 0 (the typical disk that holds the operating system)? (3)
- system volume
- boot volume
- recovery partitions
The system volume contains the operating system files and is usually allocated the drive letter C:
The boot volume contains the files used to boot the OS. This typically uses a boot system called extensible firmware interface (EFI). It is not usually assigned a drive letter.
Recovery partitions contain tools to repair a damaged installation and/or return the computer to its factory state. These can either contain the PC vendor’s tool or Microsoft’s Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). They are not usually assigned drive letters.
What disk tasks does Disk Management support? (3)
Initializing disks, Partitioning, Formatting
Initializing disks—If you add an unformatted HDD, SSD, or thumb drive, you will be prompted to initialize it. You can choose whether to use the master boot record (MBR) or Globally Unique ID (GUID) Partition Table (GPT) partition style for the new disk. MBR and GPT refer to the way the partition information is stored on the disk.
Partitioning—Each disk must be configured with at least one partition. You can create a new partition by right-clicking on an area of unpartitioned space. A wizard will prompt you to choose how much of the unallocated space to use and to select a file system.
Formatting—A new partition must be written with a file system—typically NTFS—to allow Windows to write and read files. The simpler FAT32 file system might be used for small, removable drives. You can also reformat existing partitions. This will delete all files from the volume. Along with the file system type, you can choose a volume label and allocation unit size.
True or False? You cannot format or delete system or boot partitions.
True
During setup, what must the boot partition be formatted as? What must the system partition be formatted as?
During setup,
- the boot partition must be formatted as NTFS
- the system partition must be formatted as FAT32
What feature is now the preferred method of configuring redundant disk configurations?
Storage Spaces
Windows feature for creating a single storage resource from multiple devices. Data can be protected against device failure by RAID-like mirroring or parity.
What are the 3 main problems that File storage is subject to?
Fragmentation
Capacity
Damage
Fragmentation—On a hard disk, ideally each file would be saved in contiguous clusters on the disk. In practice, over time as files grow, they become fragmented across non-contiguous clusters, reducing read performance.
Capacity—Typically, much more file creation occurs on a computer than file deletion. This means that capacity can reduce over time. If the boot volume has less than 20% free space, performance can be impaired. When space drops below 200 MB, a Low Disk Space warning is generated.
Damage—Hard disk operations are physically intensive, and the platters of the disk are easy to damage, especially if there is a power cut. If the disk does not recognize that a sector is damaged, files can become corrupted. SSDs can suffer from degradation of the memory circuitry, resulting in bad blocks, and can be damaged by impacts, overheating, and electrical issues.
How can File storage problems be addressed?
Through use of disk maintenance tools.
dfrgui.exe
Defragment and Optimize Drives tool
What does Defragment and Optimize Drives tool do?
Runs various operations to speed up the performance of HDDs and SSDs
What does Windows automatically schedules the disk optimizer to run?
Task Scheduler
cleanmgr.exe
Disk Clean-up
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taskschd.msc
Task Scheduler
What does Task Scheduler do?
Enables execution of an action (such as running a programs, commands, scripts) automatically at a pre-set time or in response to some sort of trigger.
lusrmgr.msc
Local Users and Groups console
What does Local Users and Groups console do?
Creating, modifying, disabling, and deleting user accounts.
What is a digital certificate’s purpose?
A digital certificate is a means of proving the identity of a subject, such as a user, computer, or service. The validity of each certificate is guaranteed by the issuing certification authority (CA).
certmgr.msc
Certificate Manager console
What does the Certificate Manager console do? (2)
- Shows which certificates have been installed
- Provides a mechanism for requesting and importing new certificates.
What are the 3 mainly used subfolders in Cert Manager? (3)
- The Personal folder
- Trusted Root Certification Authorities folder
- Third-party Root Certification Authorities folder
The Personal folder stores the certificates that have been issued to the user account. User certificates can be used for tasks such as authenticating to a network access server, encrypting data, and adding a digital signature to a document or message to prove its authenticity.
Trusted Root Certification Authorities contains a superset of the certificates of all issuers that are trusted, including Microsoft’s own CA root, local enterprise CAs and third-party CAs. Most of these certificates are managed via Windows Update.
Third-party Root Certification Authorities contains trusted issuers from providers other than Microsoft or a local enterprise.
True or false? certmgr.msc manages certificates for the all users?
False.
certmgr.msc manages certificates for the current user
gpedit.msc
Group Policy Editor console
What does the Group policy editor do?
Configures detailed user and system registry settings via policies
secpol.msc
Local Security Policy editor
can be used to modify security settings specifically.
regedit.exe
Registry Editor
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The registry is structured as a set of five root keys that contain computer and user databases. What are the 5 keys?
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- HKEY_USERS
- HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) database governs system-wide settings. The HKEY_USERS database includes settings that apply to individual user profiles, such as desktop personalization. HKEY_CURRENT_USER is a subset of HKEY_USERS with the settings for logged in user.
What are the binary files called where the registry database is stored?
Hives
What files are hives comprised of? (3)
- a single file (with no extension)
- a .LOG file (containing a transaction log)
- a .SAV file (a copy of the key as it was at the end of setup)
The system hive also has an .ALT backup file. Most of these files are stored in the C:\Windows\System32\Config folder, but the hive file for each user profile (NTUSER.DAT) is stored in the folder holding the user’s profile.
What are subkeys and data items called in each root key?
Value entries
What tool can you use to search for a key or value?
The Find tool
What are the 3 parts a value entry has?
- The name of the value
- The data type of the value (such as string or binary value)
- The value itself
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Review Question
True or False: SSDs cannot benefit from occasional defragmentation or optimization.
False
With flash drives and SSDs, while seek time is not a performance factor, the file system can still benefit from occasional defragmentation or optimization. There are several things to consider, including the lifespan of the SSD. You can read more about the technical considerations in optimizing SSDs at