CompTIA A+ Core 2 — Operating Systems flashcards
10 of 77 cards free to study here · 1 topic · the whole deck is built into Willys
Windows editions, command-line tools, MMC snap-ins, Control Panel and Settings, file systems, install and boot methods, macOS and Linux essentials, and application installation for Core 2.
Learn deck · part of CompTIA A+ · written against: Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202) exam objectives. Updated 2026-10-10.
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A user cannot copy a 6 GB video to a FAT32 USB stick even though it has 20 GB free. Why, and what is the fix?FAT32 cannot store a single file larger than 4 GB. Reformat the drive as exFAT (portable across Windows and macOS) or NTFS.Operating Systems › OS Types and File Systems
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Which file system does Windows install to, and which features does it offer that FAT32 lacks?NTFS. It adds file and folder permissions, journaling for crash recovery, EFS encryption, compression, quotas and very large file support.Operating Systems › OS Types and File Systems
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A flash drive must be read and written by both Windows and macOS and hold files over 4 GB. Which file system fits best?exFAT, which both operating systems support natively without the FAT32 file size limit.Operating Systems › OS Types and File Systems
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Which file systems are the usual defaults on modern macOS and on most Linux distributions?APFS on macOS (replacing HFS+), and ext4 on most Linux distributions, with XFS the default on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.Operating Systems › OS Types and File Systems
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What are the main limits of an MBR partitioned disk compared with GPT?MBR supports disks up to 2 TB and only four primary partitions (or three plus an extended partition). GPT handles far larger disks and up to 128 partitions in Windows, and UEFI boots from it.Operating Systems › OS Types and File Systems
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A PC with 16 GB of RAM shows only about 4 GB usable. What is the most likely reason?A 32-bit operating system is installed; it can address only about 4 GB of memory. Installing a 64-bit edition uses all the RAM; Windows 11 itself comes only in 64-bit editions.Operating Systems › OS Types and File Systems
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A technician must install Windows on 40 new desktops over the network without USB drives. Which boot method do the PCs use?PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) network boot, enabled in UEFI, which loads the installer or an image from a deployment server.Operating Systems › Installation and Boot Methods
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How does a clean install differ from an in-place upgrade?A clean install wipes the drive and installs a fresh OS, so apps and data must be restored afterwards. An in-place upgrade installs over the existing OS and keeps apps, settings and files.Operating Systems › Installation and Boot Methods
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A company deploys one fully configured, tested system to hundreds of identical PCs. Which installation approach is this?Image deployment: a master image is captured and copied to each machine, which is much faster than installing each one manually.Operating Systems › Installation and Boot Methods
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What is a recovery partition?A hidden partition on the system drive, usually created by the manufacturer or Windows, that holds tools or an image to repair or restore the OS without external media.Operating Systems › Installation and Boot Methods
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About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Checked against Microsoft Learn documentation for Windows commands, editions and system requirements, Apple Support documentation for macOS, and the Linux man-pages project (reference only; no text copied).
- CompTIA A+ exam objectives 220-1201/220-1202 (topic outline only; no text copied)
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