Operating system technical interview questions and answers help students and job seekers understand core computing concepts that are essential for technical interviews. The operating system acts as a bridge between hardware and software, making it one of the fundamental subjects tested in campus placement interviews. Recruiters frequently ask questions about process management, memory allocation, deadlocks, scheduling algorithms, threads, file systems, and OS architecture. These OS interview questions appear repeatedly in companies like TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant, Capgemini, and Accenture. This guide explains the most commonly asked OS interview questions with easy-to-understand answers, practical examples, and simple definitions. Whether you are preparing for your first job, a technical round, or a written placement test, understanding OS concepts will help you perform confidently. You can also practice mock questions or download PDFs to strengthen your preparation.
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51. What is purpose of different operating systems?
The machine Purpose Workstation individual usability &Resources utilization Mainframe Optimize utilization of hardware PC Support complex games, business application Hand held PCs Easy interface & min. power consumption
52. What are the different operating systems?
1. Batched operating systems
2. Multi-programmed operating systems
3. timesharing operating systems
4. Distributed operating systems
5. Real-time operating systems
53. Explain the concept of the batched operating systems?
In batched operating system the users gives their jobs to the operator who sorts the programs according to their requirements and executes them. This is time consuming but makes the CPU busy all the time.
54. Explain the concept of the multi-programmed operating systems?
A multi-programmed operating systems can execute a number of programs concurrently. The operating system fetches a group of programs from the job-pool in the secondary storage which contains all the programs to be executed, and places them in the main memory. This process is called job scheduling. Then it chooses a
program from the ready queue and gives them to CPU to execute. When a executing program needs some I/O operation then the operating system fetches another program and hands it to the
55. Explain the concept of the timesharing operating systems?
It is a logical extension of the multi-programmed OS where user can interact with the program. The CPU executes multiple jobs by switching among them, but the switches occur so frequently that the user feels as if the operating system is running only his program
56. Explain the concept of the multi-processor systems or parallel systems?
They contain a no. of processors to increase the speed of execution, and reliability, and economy. They are of two types:
1. Symmetric multiprocessing
2. Asymmetric multiprocessing
In Symmetric multi processing each processor run an identical copy of the OS, and these copies communicate with each other as and when needed.But in Asymmetric multiprocessing each processor is assigned a specific task.
57. Explain the concept of the Distributed systems?
Distributed systems work in a network. They can share the network resources,communicate with each other
58. Explain the concept of Real-time operating systems?
A real time operating system is used when rigid time requirement have been placed on the operation of a processor or the flow of the data; thus, it is often used as a control device in a dedicated application. Here the sensors bring data to the computer. The computer must analyze the data and possibly adjust controls to
modify the sensor input.
They are of two types:
1. Hard real time OS
2. Soft real time OS
Hard-real-time OS has well-defined fixed time constraints. But soft real time opera
59. Define MULTICS?
MULTICS (Multiplexed information and computing services) operating system was developed from 1965-1970 at Massachusetts institute of technology as a computing utility. Many of the ideas used in MULTICS were subsequently used in UNIX.