Sample Interview Questions

Windows boot process (Complete step by step Process)

1. Upon powering on the machine a POST (Power on Self Test) is executed, this does
a quick test on things such as the memory and power supply of a machine. POST
transfers control to CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) which
contains the BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The BIOS loads various low level
settings such as boot-order and network settings. The BIOS is also a very useful tool
for testing memory or hard drives, as well as finding out basic information such as
serial numbers and asset tags. Note if POST fails it is usually identified by various
light or audible beep codes which often can be searched for by model on the
manufacturers' website.
2. The Master Boot Record (MBR) is then read which is a set of tasks to load the
operating system.
It will check the floppy, CD-ROM, or hard drive (Not necessarily in that order).
The MBR points to the boot sector, which locates IO.SYS and loads the file into RAM.
MBR looks for the active partition on the boot device and loads the boot sector.
The boot sector in turn starts the Ntldr file which will load the operating system.
Ntldr configures the computer’s processor to recognize all of the memory.
Ntldr will start the file system, and the operating system will load, whether it is FAT
or NTFS.

3. Ntldr checks the Boot.ini file to find the operating system(s) and to create the
boot menu.
4. After the operating system is selected, Ntldr will run Ntdetect.com which will make
the hardware list.
5. Ntldr will load Ntoskrnl.exe which is the kernel of the operating system.
6. The operating system will start the graphical interface.
7. Ntoskrnl.exe loads Smss.exe which is the Session Manager.
8. The user logs on.

Outlook – Related to OST and PST, maximum storage size

1) What is the difference between Exchange and Outlook? Name few Email
clients.
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client-server, collaborative
application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers
line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure
solutions. Exchange's major features consist of electronic mail, calendaring,
contacts and tasks; support for mobile and web-based access to information;
and support for data storage.
Microsoft Outlook, formerly Microsoft Office Outlook, is a personal information
manager from Microsoft. The 2007 version is available both as a separate
application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite.
Although often used mainly as an e-mail application, it also includes a
Calendar, Task Manager, Contact Manager, note taking, a journal and web
browsing.
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Outlook Express is an e-mail/news client that is included with Internet Explorer

versions 4.0 through 6.0. As such, it is also bundled with several versions of
Microsoft Windows, from Windows 98 to Windows XP, and is available for
Windows 95 and Mac OS 9.

2) What is difference between OST and PST? What is the default storage for a
PST?
Microsoft Outlook stores these items in a personal-storage-table (.pst) or off-
line-storage-table (.ost) files that are located on the local computer. Most
commonly, the .pst files are used to store archived items and the .ost files to
maintain off-line availability of the items.

SMTP Port No 25
POP3 Port No 110
IMAP4 Port No 143

HTTP Port No 80
HTTPS(SSL) Port No 443
FTP Port No 21

AD Port No 445
DHCP Port No 67
DNS Port No 53

Telnet Port No 23
RDP Port No 3389

Networking commands with explanation

HOSTNAME
The hostname command displays the host name of the Windows XP computer
currently logged into.
IPCONFIG
Ipconfig is a MS-DOS utility that can be used from MS-DOS and a MS-DOS
shell to display the network settings currently assigned and given by a network.
This command can be utilized to verify a network connection as well as to verify
your network settings.
PATHPING
Pathping is a MS-DOS utility available for Microsoft Windows 2000 and
Windows XP users. This utility enables a user to find network latency and
network loss.
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PING
Ping is one of the most commonly used and known commands. Ping allows a user
to ping another network IP address. This can help determine if the network is able
to communicate with the network.
NBTSTAT
The nbtstat MS-DOS utility that displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP
connections using NBT.
NET
The net command is available in MS-DOS / Windows and is used to set, view and
determine network settings.
NETSTAT
The netstat command is used to display the TCP/IP network protocol statistics and
information.
NSLOOKUP
The nslookup MS-DOS utility that enables a user to do a reverse lookup on an IP
address of a domain or host on a network.
ROUTE
The route MS-DOS utility enables computers to view and modify the computer's
route table.
TRACERT / TRACEROUTE
The tracert command in MS-DOS / Windows or the traceroute command in
Unix / Linux and variants is another commonly used network command to help
determine network related issues or slowdowns. Using this command you can
view a listing of how a network packet travels through the network and where it
may fail or slow down. Using this information you can determine the computer,
router, switch or other network device possibly causing your network issues.
WHOIS
The whois command available in Unix / Linux variants helps allow a user to
identify a domain name. This command provides information about a domain
name much like the WHOIS on network solutions. In some cases the domain
information will be provided from Network Solutions.
WINIPCFG
The winipcfg command available in Windows allows a user to display network
and network adapter information. Here, a user can find such information as an IP
address, Subnet Mask, Gateway, etc...
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DESKTOP

3) What is an Event Viewer? Name the three logs in the event viewer?
Event Viewer, a component of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating
systems, lets administrators and users view the event logs on a local or remote
machine.
Applications and operating system components can make use of this
centralized log service to report events that have taken place, such as a
failure to start a component or complete an action. The system defines three
log sources:
"System"
"Application"
"Security"
The Event Viewer uses event IDs to define the uniquely identifiable events
that a Windows computer can encounter. For example, when a user's
authentication fails, the system may generate Event ID 672.
Windows 2000 also replaced NT4's Event Viewer with a Microsoft Management
Console (MMC) snap-in.

4) How can you map a network drive?

Connect a drive from My Computer or Windows Explorer

1. To connect a drive from My Computer, click Start, right-click My Computer,
and then click Explore.
2. On the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive.
3. In the Drive box, click a drive letter.
4. In the Folder box, type the UNC path for the server and shared resource in
the following format: \\server name\share name. You can also click Browse
to find the computer and shared resource.

Disconnect from a mapped network drive

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the icon for the mapped drive.
3. Click Disconnect.

Use the Net Use command to map or disconnect a drive

• To map a network drive:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd.
3. Type net use x: \\computer name\share name, where x: is the drive
letter you want to assign to the shared resource.
• To disconnect a mapped drive:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd.
3. Type net use x: /delete, where x: is the drive letter of the shared
resource.

Connect a drive from My Network Places

1. Click Start, click My Network Places, click Entire Network, and then
double-click Microsoft Windows Network.
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2. Double-click the domain that you want to open.

3. Double-click the computer that has the shared resource you want to map. All
the shared resources for that computer automatically appear in the window.
4. Right-click the shared drive or folder that you want to map, and then click
Map Network Drive.
5. Click the drive letter that you want to use, and then specify whether you want
to reconnect every time that you log on to your computer.

Note Network drives are mapped by using letters starting from the letter Z.
This is the default drive letter for the first mapped drive you create. However,
you can select another letter if you want to use a letter other than Z.
6. Click Finish.

5) What is the difference between Remote Assistance and Remote

Desktop?

Remote Assistance uses Windows XP/2003 Terminal Services to share

desktop and other resources between two PCs.

Terminal Services - It is a way of using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol),

which allows users to connect to their Windows XP desktop or a dedicated
server (Terminal Server) combining with VPN (Virtual Private Network) with
the help of which users can connect to their office network remotely and work
with their applications.
Virtual Private Network – Creates a secure connection between private
networks.

In a *Remote Assistance Session* -

Both users must be present at their respective PCs and must agree to
establish a connection.

Remote Assistance is designed for peer-to-peer use by Windows users.

In which a Novice (asking for help) from a Expert (technician, or friend, or
helpdesk, or vendor). To have a successful Remote Assistance both users
must have active Internet connections or be on the same local area network,
and neither of them should be blocked by firewalls.

The Remote Desktop service is available as part of Windows XP Professional

Edition. This service allows you to take control of the remote computer
without requesting for access.

To enable Remote Desktop or Remote Assistance services:

Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the Remote tab
>> Check both Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop >> Apply >> Ok
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6) Which commands in the command prompt would give the MAC

address of a PC?
Click the Start menu button on the Windows taskbar.
Click 'Run...' on this menu.
Type 'cmd' in the text box that appears. A command prompt window launches
on the desktop.
In this command window, type 'ipconfig /all'
Details are shown for each of the computer's network adapters. Computers
installed with VPN software or emulation software will possess one or more
virtual adapters.
The 'IP Address' field states the current IP address for that network adapter.
The 'Physical Address' field states the MAC address for that adapter.

7) What is difference between PING and TRACERT commands?

The main difference between the common Ping and Traceroute commands is
that Ping is a quick and easy way to tell you if the destination server is online
and estimates how long it takes to send ands receive data to the destination.
Traceroute tells you the exact route you take to reach the server from your
computer (ISP) and how long each hop takes.
Ping
Ping (also written as PING or ping) is a utility that you use to determine
whether or not a specific IP address is accessible.
Traceroute
Traceroute is a utility that traces a packet from your computer to an Internet
host, but it will show you how many hops the packet requires to reach the
host and how long each hop takes.

8) What is the loop-back address?

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In computer networking, localhost (meaning "this computer") is the standard

hostname given to the address of the loopback network interface.
Localhost always translates to the loopback IP address 127.0.0.1

10) Please explain about the below file types

.PDF : Adobe file format

.DOC : Microsoft word format
.ZIP : File format for WinZip compressed folders
.RTF : WordPad file format
.JPEG: Adobe Photoshop picture format
.WAV: Sound File format
.MPEG: Video File format

11) What are all the essential equipments that one requires to gain access to
internet? Explain EVERYTHING (doesn’t matter if you think it is obvious…make sure
you mention all of them).
Computer
Ethernet card
Modem/ADSL Router or Modem
ISP account

12) What is DHCP? What is DNS?

DHCP stands for "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (Port No 67)".

DHCP's purpose is to enable individual computers on an IP network to extract their
configurations from a server. The most significant piece of information distributed is
the IP address.

DHCP client messages are sent to off-net servers by DHCP relay agents, which
are often a part of an IP router. The DHCP relay agent records the subnet from
which the message was received in the DHCP message header for use by the
DHCP server.

A DHCP lease is the amount of time that the DHCP server grants to the DHCP
client permission to use a particular IP address. A typical server allows its
administrator to set the lease time.

DHCP discovery
The client broadcasts messages on the physical subnet to discover available DHCP
servers. Network administrators can configure a local router to forward DHCP
packets to a DHCP server from a different subnet. This client-implementation creates
a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet with the broadcast destination of
255.255.255.255 or the specific subnet broadcast address.
A DHCP client can also request its last-known IP address (in the example below,
192.168.1.100). If the client remains connected to a network for which this IP is
valid, the server might grant the request. Otherwise, it depends whether the server
is set up as authoritative or not. An authoritative server will deny the request,
making the client ask for a new IP immediately. A non-authoritative server simply
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ignores the request, leading to an implementation-dependent timeout for the client

to give up on the request and ask for a new IP address.
DHCP offer
When a DHCP server receives an IP lease request from a client, it reserves an IP
address for the client and extends an IP lease offer by sending a DHCPOFFER
message to the client. This message contains the client's MAC address, the IP
address that the server is offering, the subnet mask, the lease duration, and the IP
address of the DHCP server making the offer.
The server determines the configuration based on the client's hardware address as
specified in the CHADDR (Client Hardware Address) field. Here the server,
192.168.1.1, specifies the IP address in the YIADDR (Your IP Address) field.
DHCP request
A client can receive DHCP offers from multiple servers, but it will accept only one
DHCP offer and broadcast a DHCP request message. Based on the Transaction ID
field in the request, servers are informed whose offer the client has accepted. When
other DHCP servers receive this message, they withdraw any offers that they might
have made to the client and return the offered address to the pool of available
addresses.
DHCP acknowledgement
When the DHCP server receives the DHCPREQUEST message from the client, the
configuration processes enters its final phase. The acknowledgement phase involves
sending a DHCPACK packet to the client. This packet includes the lease duration and
any other configuration information that the client might have requested. At this
point, the IP configuration process is completed.

The Domain Name System (DNS Port No 53) is a hierarchical naming system for
computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network.
DNS provides name registration and name to address resolution capabilities.

DNS uses a client/server model in which the DNS server maintains a static database
of domain names mapped to IP addresses. The DNS client, known as the resolver,
performs queries against the DNS servers. The bottom line DNS resolves domain
names to IP address using these steps
Step 1
A client (or “resolver”) passes its request to its local name server. For example, the
URL term www.idgbooks.com typed into Internet Explorer is passed to the DNS
server identified in the client TCP/IP configuration. This DNS server is known as the
local name server.
Step 2
If, as often happens, the local name server is unable to resolve the request, other
name servers are queried so that the resolver may be satisfied.
Step 3
If all else fails, the request is passed to more and more, higher-level name servers
until the query resolution process starts with far-right term (for instance, com) or at
the top of the DNS tree with root name servers

13) What is Active Directory? What is Domain?

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Active Directory service provides a single point of network resource management,

allowing you to add, remove and relocate users and resources easily.
A directory service provides the means to organize and simplify access to resources
of a networked computer system.
A domain is the core administrative unit of the Windows Server 2003 directory
service. Active Directory cannot exist without at least one domain, and vice versa.

14) Explain/Expand HTTP, FTP

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP - 80) is an Application Layer protocol for
distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems.
HTTP is a request/response standard typical of client-server computing.
In HTTP, web browsers or spiders typically act as clients, while an application running
on the computer hosting the web site acts as a server.
The client, which submits HTTP requests, is also referred to as the user agent.
The responding server, which stores or creates resources such as HTML files and
images, may be called the origin server.
In between the user agent and origin server may be several intermediaries, such as
proxies, gateways, and tunnels.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP - 21) is a standard network protocol used to exchange
and manipulate files over a TCP/IP-based network, such as the Internet.
FTP is built on client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data
connections between the client and server applications.
FTP is used with user-based password authentication or with anonymous user
access.

16) What are the advantages of USB?

USB provides up to 12-megabit-per-second data transfer; supports up to 127
external devices; features “hot-plug” and “hot-unplug” capabilities and automatic
driver loading; and supports a wide variety of devices.

18) What do you think is the best PC configuration (for a Laptop) available in the
market? Consider you have at least 70,000 rupees in your hand?

19) Write 5 basic networking commands and explain?

20) What is TCP and RDP, DOMAIN and OU, DOMAIN CONTROLLER and
GLOBAL CATALOG?