Operating system GATE questions and answers are an integral part of GATE preparation. You need to be equipped with basic knowledge of all OS topics. These OS GATE questions will be helpful for you in the GATE exam.

OS or Operating Systems is one of the most important subjects in the computer science branch. This subject is all about the functioning of a computer system and the software that makes it possible.

Operating System GATE Questions with Answers

1. process is

a) Programme in high-level language kept on the disk

b) Contents of main memory

c) A program in execution

d) A job in secondary memory

Answer: b

2. What is the ready state of a process?

a) when the process is scheduled to run after some execution

b) when the process is unable to run until some task has been completed

c) when the process is using the CPU

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: a

3. What is interprocess communication?

a) communication within the process

b) communication between two process

c) communication between two threads of the same process

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: b

4. A set of processes is deadlock if __________

a) each process is blocked and will remain so forever

b) each process is terminated

c) all processes are trying to kill each other

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: a

5. A process stack does not contain __________

a) Function parameters

b) Local variables

c) Return addresses

d) PID of the child process

Answer: d

6. Which system call can be used by a parent process to determine the termination of the child process?

a) wait

b) exit

c) fork

d) get

Answer: a

7. The address of the next instruction to be executed by the current process is provided by the __________

a) CPU registers

b) Program counter

c) Process stack

d) Pipe

Answer: b

8. The systems which allow only one process execution at a time, are called __________

a) uniprogramming systems

b) uniprocessing systems

c) unitasking systems

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: b

9. In operating system, each process has its own __________

a) address space and global variables

b) open files

c) pending alarms, signals and signal handlers

d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d

10. In Unix, Which system call creates the new process?

a) fork

b) create

c) new

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: a

11. Which one of the following error will be handle by the operating system?

a) power failure

b) lack of paper in printer

c) connection failure in the network

d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d

12. What is the main function of the command interpreter?

a) to get and execute the next user-specified command

b) to provide the interface between the API and application program

c) to handle the files in operating system

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: a

13. In Operating Systems, which of the following is/are CPU scheduling algorithms?

a) Round Robin

b) Shortest Job First

c) Priority

d) All of the mentioned

Answer: d

14. If a process fails, most operating system write the error information to a ______

a) log file

b) another running process

c) new file

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: a

15. Which facility dynamically adds probes to a running system, both in user processes and in the kernel?

a) DTrace

b) DLocate

c) DMap

d) DAdd

Answer: a

16. Which one of the following is not a real time operating system?

a) VxWorks

b) QNX

c) RTLinux

d) Palm OS

Answer: d

17. The OS X has ____________

a) monolithic kernel

b) hybrid kernel

c) microkernel

d) monolithic kernel with modules

Answer: b

18. What is an operating system?

a) collection of programs that manages hardware resources

b) system service provider to the application programs

c) interface between the hardware and application programs

d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d

19. To access the services of operating system, the interface is provided by the ___________

a) System calls

b) API

c) Library

d) Assembly instructions

Answer: a

20. Which one of the following is not true?

a) kernel is the program that constitutes the central core of the operating system

b) kernel is the first part of operating system to load into memory during booting

c) kernel is made of various modules which can not be loaded in running operating system

d) kernel remains in the memory during the entire computer session

Answer: c

21. Which of the following is not the state of a process?

a) New

b) Old

c) Waiting

d) Running

Answer: b

22. What is a Process Control Block?

a) Process type variable

b) Data Structure

c) A secondary storage section

d) A Block in memory

Answer: b

23. The entry of all the PCBs of the current processes is in __________

a) Process Register

b) Program Counter

c) Process Table

d) Process Unit

Answer: c

24. What is the degree of multiprogramming?

a) the number of processes executed per unit time

b) the number of processes in the ready queue

c) the number of processes in the I/O queue

d) the number of processes in memory

Answer: d

25. A single thread of control allows the process to perform __________

a) only one task at a time

b) multiple tasks at a time

c) only two tasks at a time

d) all of the mentioned

Answer: a

26. What is the objective of multiprogramming?

a) Have a process running at all time

b) Have multiple programs waiting in a queue ready to run

c) To increase CPU utilization

d) None of the mentioned

Answer: c

27. A Process Control Block(PCB) does not contain which of the following?

a) Code

b) Stack

c) Bootstrap program

d) Data

Answer: c

28. The number of processes completed per unit time is known as __________

a) Output

b) Throughput

c) Efficiency

d) Capacity

Answer: b

29. The state of a process is defined by __________

a) the final activity of the process

b) the activity just executed by the process

c) the activity to next be executed by the process

d) the current activity of the process

Answer: d

30. Which of the following need not necessarily be saved on a context switch between processes?

a) General purpose registers

b) Translation lookaside buffer

c) Program counter

d) All of the mentioned

Answer: b

31. What is a long-term scheduler?

a) It selects processes which have to be brought into the ready queue

b) It selects processes which have to be executed next and allocates CPU

c) It selects processes which heave to remove from memory by swapping

d) None of the mentioned

Answer: a

32. If all processes I/O bound, the ready queue will almost always be ______ and the Short term Scheduler will have a ______ to do.

a) full, little

b) full, lot

c) empty, little

d) empty, lot

Answer: c

33. What is a medium-term scheduler?

a) It selects which process has to be brought into the ready queue

b) It selects which process has to be executed next and allocates CPU

c) It selects which process to remove from memory by swapping

d) None of the mentioned

Answer: c

34. What is a short-term scheduler?

a) It selects which process has to be brought into the ready queue

b) It selects which process has to be executed next and allocates CPU

c) It selects which process to remove from memory by swapping

d) None of the mentioned

Answer: b

35. The primary distinction between the short term scheduler and the long term scheduler is __________

a) The length of their queues

b) The type of processes they schedule

c) The frequency of their execution

d) None of the mentioned

Answer: c

36. The only state transition that is initiated by the user process itself is __________

a) block

b) wakeup

c) dispatch

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: a

37. In a time-sharing operating system, when the time slot given to a process is completed, the process goes from the running state to the __________

a) Blocked state

b) Ready state

c) Suspended state

d) Terminated state

Answer: b

38. In a multiprogramming environment __________

a) the processor executes more than one process at a time

b) the programs are developed by more than one person

c) more than one process resides in the memory

d) a single user can execute many programs at the same time

Answer: c

39. Suppose that a process is in “Blocked” state waiting for some I/O service. When the service is completed, it goes to the __________

a) Running state

b) Ready state

c) Suspended state

d) Terminated state

Answer: b

40. The context of a process in the PCB of a process does not contain __________

a) the value of the CPU registers

b) the process state

c) memory-management information

d) context switch time

Answer: d

41. If a process is executing in its critical section, then no other processes can be executing in their critical section. What is this condition called?

a) mutual exclusion

b) critical exclusion

c) synchronous exclusion

d) asynchronous exclusion

Answer: a

42. Which one of the following is a synchronization tool?

a) thread

b) pipe

c) semaphore

d) socket

Answer: c

43. A semaphore is a shared integer variable __________

a) that can not drop below zero

b) that can not be more than zero

c) that can not drop below one

d) that can not be more than one

Answer: a

44. Mutual exclusion can be provided by the __________

a) mutex locks

b) binary semaphores

c) both mutex locks and binary semaphores

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: c

45. When high priority task is indirectly preempted by medium priority task effectively inverting the relative priority of the two tasks, the scenario is called __________

a) priority inversion

b) priority removal

c) priority exchange

d) priority modification

Answer: a

46. Process synchronization can be done on __________

a) hardware level

b) software level

c) both hardware and software level

d) none of the mentioned

Answer: c

47. A monitor is a module that encapsulates __________

a) shared data structures

b) procedures that operate on shared data structure

c) synchronization between concurrent procedure invocation

d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d

48. To enable a process to wait within the monitor __________

a) a condition variable must be declared as condition

b) condition variables must be used as boolean objects

c) semaphore must be used

d) all of the mentioned

Answer: a

49. Which process can be affected by other processes executing in the system?

a) cooperating process

b) child process

c) parent process

d) init process

Answer: a

50. When several processes access the same data concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place is called ________

a) dynamic condition

b) race condition

c) essential condition

d) critical condition

Answer: b

Operating System GATE Questions with Answers PDF

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