DCOM 142 TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔You type the following command and see the resulting output:
$ ls -l test
-rwxr-xr-x 2 rod users 111 Apr 13 13:48 test
What is the meaning of the digit 2 immediately prior to the username (rod)? - ✔✔C
The number in the specified position represents the number of filenames that point to
the file—in other words, the number of hard links to the file. Thus, option C is correct.
Options A, B, D, and E all present fictitious descriptions of that field's meaning. (The
file's size appears later on the line—it's 111 in this example.)
✔✔Which of the following options to chown changes the ownership of all the
subdirectories of any specified directories, rather than just the files or directories that
are explicitly passed to it? - ✔✔A
The -R or --recursive option does as the question specifies, so option A is correct. The -
-tree, -all, and -t options are all fictitious, so options B, D, and E are all incorrect. Option
C is almost correct, but the correct option includes two dashes, not one—that is, it's --
recursive, not -recursive.
✔✔The character that separates fields on each line of /etc/passwd is ___. - ✔✔Answer:
:
✔✔True or false: Users should be logged in when you change their UID numbers with
usermod. - ✔✔False
If a user is logged in when you change the user's UID number, problems can ensue
because the login session will continue to use the old UID number. Thus, users should
be logged out before you attempt to change their UID numbers.
✔✔What option can you pass to groupadd to have it create a group with a GID number
of 1027? - ✔✔E
You can use the --gid (or -g) option to groupadd to specify the GID number for a new
group, so option E is correct. Options A, B, C, and D all present fictitious options to
groupadd.
✔✔You can type ______ to acquire root privileges that persist across multiple
commands. - ✔✔su
,✔✔You can type useradd ____ nemo as root to create the nemo account without
creating a home directory for nemo. - ✔✔Answer: -M
✔✔The user arnold is currently logged in. Despite this fact, you want to delete his
account without first logging him off. You don't want to delete arnold's files. To
accomplish this goal, you type userdel ___ arnold. - ✔✔Answer: -f or --force
✔✔You can type _____ to learn your current username and nothing more? -
✔✔Answer: whoami
✔✔True or false: By default, useradd copies a set of user configuration files from
/etc/skel when creating a new user account. - ✔✔True
Default user configuration files give users a head start on configuring their accounts and
enable system administrators to set user default options. They're copied from /etc/skel
unless you specify another location with the --skel (-k) option to useradd.
✔✔True or false: The /etc/group file supports linking each user to a maximum of one
group. - ✔✔False
The question's limitation applies to the default group specified in /etc/passwd. In
/etc/group, each line can link one group to an arbitrary number of users.
✔✔When should you use the root account? - ✔✔E
The root account is extremely powerful, and therefore extremely dangerous. Thus, you
should use it only when you need that power to perform administrative tasks, as option
E specifies. You'll get little or no extra speed from the root account, so using it as option
A specifies will gain you nothing but expose your system to added risk, making option A
incorrect. Even if you're the sole user of the computer, using root unnecessarily can be
dangerous; and if you're the system administrator, you'll have to use the root account
even on a multi-user system. Thus, option B is incorrect. Although root power is
sometimes necessary for diagnostics, this isn't always the case, so option C is incorrect.
Running untrusted programs is always risky, and running them as root is doubly risky,
so option D is incorrect.
✔✔You want to delete the oldproj group, so you type ______ oldproj. - ✔✔Answer:
groupdel
✔✔True or false: GUI account management tools provide more options than their text-
mode counterparts. - ✔✔False
Text-mode account management tools invariably provide as many or more options than
do GUI account management tools.
, ✔✔Which of the following pieces of information on user accounts is not normally stored
in the /etc/passwd file on modern Linux distributions? - ✔✔E
Although /etc/passwd includes a field for the password, that field normally contains an x
value, meaning that the encrypted password is stored in /etc/shadow. Thus, option E is
correct. The accounts default shell, default GID number, UID number, and username all
appear in /etc/passwd, so options A, B, C, and D are all incorrect.
✔✔True or false: All user accounts are necessarily defined in /etc/passwd and
/etc/shadow. - ✔✔False
Some computers use network account databases, which supplement local account
configuration files with those stored on a remote network server.
✔✔True or false: The lowest UID number used for user accounts on Linux systems
varies from one installation to another. - ✔✔True
Most distributions today use a minimum UID number of 1000; however, some use 500,
and administrators can change this value if they so desire.
✔✔The file that associates usernames with UID numbers in Linux is ___________.
(Provide the complete path to the file.) - ✔✔Answer: /etc/passwd
✔✔What type of information will you find in /etc/passwd for ordinary user accounts?
(Select all that apply) - ✔✔Answers A, C, E
....
✔✔You want to run the command cat /etc/shadow as root, but your logged in as an
ordinary user. Which of the following commands will do the job, assuming that the
system is configured to give you root access via the appropriate command? - ✔✔A
The command sudo cat /etc/shadow will give the ordinary user access for the command
to run as root.
✔✔True or False: whoami provides more information than id. - ✔✔False
The whoami command only responds with the current session user's name, id will give
more details including numeric user and group ID and all the groups the user belongs
to.
✔✔UIDs below 500 or 1000 (depending on the distribution) are reserved for use by
__________ accounts. - ✔✔Answer: system
ANSWERS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔You type the following command and see the resulting output:
$ ls -l test
-rwxr-xr-x 2 rod users 111 Apr 13 13:48 test
What is the meaning of the digit 2 immediately prior to the username (rod)? - ✔✔C
The number in the specified position represents the number of filenames that point to
the file—in other words, the number of hard links to the file. Thus, option C is correct.
Options A, B, D, and E all present fictitious descriptions of that field's meaning. (The
file's size appears later on the line—it's 111 in this example.)
✔✔Which of the following options to chown changes the ownership of all the
subdirectories of any specified directories, rather than just the files or directories that
are explicitly passed to it? - ✔✔A
The -R or --recursive option does as the question specifies, so option A is correct. The -
-tree, -all, and -t options are all fictitious, so options B, D, and E are all incorrect. Option
C is almost correct, but the correct option includes two dashes, not one—that is, it's --
recursive, not -recursive.
✔✔The character that separates fields on each line of /etc/passwd is ___. - ✔✔Answer:
:
✔✔True or false: Users should be logged in when you change their UID numbers with
usermod. - ✔✔False
If a user is logged in when you change the user's UID number, problems can ensue
because the login session will continue to use the old UID number. Thus, users should
be logged out before you attempt to change their UID numbers.
✔✔What option can you pass to groupadd to have it create a group with a GID number
of 1027? - ✔✔E
You can use the --gid (or -g) option to groupadd to specify the GID number for a new
group, so option E is correct. Options A, B, C, and D all present fictitious options to
groupadd.
✔✔You can type ______ to acquire root privileges that persist across multiple
commands. - ✔✔su
,✔✔You can type useradd ____ nemo as root to create the nemo account without
creating a home directory for nemo. - ✔✔Answer: -M
✔✔The user arnold is currently logged in. Despite this fact, you want to delete his
account without first logging him off. You don't want to delete arnold's files. To
accomplish this goal, you type userdel ___ arnold. - ✔✔Answer: -f or --force
✔✔You can type _____ to learn your current username and nothing more? -
✔✔Answer: whoami
✔✔True or false: By default, useradd copies a set of user configuration files from
/etc/skel when creating a new user account. - ✔✔True
Default user configuration files give users a head start on configuring their accounts and
enable system administrators to set user default options. They're copied from /etc/skel
unless you specify another location with the --skel (-k) option to useradd.
✔✔True or false: The /etc/group file supports linking each user to a maximum of one
group. - ✔✔False
The question's limitation applies to the default group specified in /etc/passwd. In
/etc/group, each line can link one group to an arbitrary number of users.
✔✔When should you use the root account? - ✔✔E
The root account is extremely powerful, and therefore extremely dangerous. Thus, you
should use it only when you need that power to perform administrative tasks, as option
E specifies. You'll get little or no extra speed from the root account, so using it as option
A specifies will gain you nothing but expose your system to added risk, making option A
incorrect. Even if you're the sole user of the computer, using root unnecessarily can be
dangerous; and if you're the system administrator, you'll have to use the root account
even on a multi-user system. Thus, option B is incorrect. Although root power is
sometimes necessary for diagnostics, this isn't always the case, so option C is incorrect.
Running untrusted programs is always risky, and running them as root is doubly risky,
so option D is incorrect.
✔✔You want to delete the oldproj group, so you type ______ oldproj. - ✔✔Answer:
groupdel
✔✔True or false: GUI account management tools provide more options than their text-
mode counterparts. - ✔✔False
Text-mode account management tools invariably provide as many or more options than
do GUI account management tools.
, ✔✔Which of the following pieces of information on user accounts is not normally stored
in the /etc/passwd file on modern Linux distributions? - ✔✔E
Although /etc/passwd includes a field for the password, that field normally contains an x
value, meaning that the encrypted password is stored in /etc/shadow. Thus, option E is
correct. The accounts default shell, default GID number, UID number, and username all
appear in /etc/passwd, so options A, B, C, and D are all incorrect.
✔✔True or false: All user accounts are necessarily defined in /etc/passwd and
/etc/shadow. - ✔✔False
Some computers use network account databases, which supplement local account
configuration files with those stored on a remote network server.
✔✔True or false: The lowest UID number used for user accounts on Linux systems
varies from one installation to another. - ✔✔True
Most distributions today use a minimum UID number of 1000; however, some use 500,
and administrators can change this value if they so desire.
✔✔The file that associates usernames with UID numbers in Linux is ___________.
(Provide the complete path to the file.) - ✔✔Answer: /etc/passwd
✔✔What type of information will you find in /etc/passwd for ordinary user accounts?
(Select all that apply) - ✔✔Answers A, C, E
....
✔✔You want to run the command cat /etc/shadow as root, but your logged in as an
ordinary user. Which of the following commands will do the job, assuming that the
system is configured to give you root access via the appropriate command? - ✔✔A
The command sudo cat /etc/shadow will give the ordinary user access for the command
to run as root.
✔✔True or False: whoami provides more information than id. - ✔✔False
The whoami command only responds with the current session user's name, id will give
more details including numeric user and group ID and all the groups the user belongs
to.
✔✔UIDs below 500 or 1000 (depending on the distribution) are reserved for use by
__________ accounts. - ✔✔Answer: system
