Free LPI LPIC-1 101-500 practice questions

10 free LPI LPIC-1 101-500 practice questions with the correct answer and a full explanation for each, taken from the CertStash pack of 120 questions. Work through them, then open each answer to check your reasoning.

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Question 1

Which type of file system is created by mkfs when it is executed with the block device name only and without any additional parameters?

  1. XFS
  2. VFAT
  3. ext2
  4. ext3
  5. ext4
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. ext2

When mkfs is executed with only a block device name and no additional parameters, it defaults to creating an ext2 filesystem. This is the traditional default behavior of the mkfs command without any filesystem type specification.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. XFS requires explicit specification with mkfs.xfs
  • B. VFAT requires explicit specification with mkfs.vfat
  • D. ext3 requires explicit specification with mkfs.ext3
  • E. ext4 requires explicit specification with mkfs.ext4

Question 2

Which umask value ensures that new directories can be read, written and listed by their owning user, read and listed by their owning group and are not accessible at all for everyone else?

  1. 0750
  2. 0027
  3. 0036
  4. 7640
  5. 0029 ✅Correct Answer: B, 0027 The umask is subtracted from the default directory permissions (0777). 0777 minus 0027 yields 0750, which gives rwx to the owner, r-x to the group, and nothing to others. This matches the requirement: owner can read/write/list, group can read/list, others have no access.
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Answer and explanation for question 2

Question 3

Which of the following commands changes the number of days before the ext3 filesystem on /dev/sda1 has to run through a full filesystem check while booting?

  1. tune2fs -d 200 /dev/sda1
  2. tune2fs -i 200 /dev/sda1
  3. tune2fs -c 200 /dev/sda1
  4. tune2fs -n 200 /dev/sda1
  5. tune2fs –days 200 /dev/sda1
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. tune2fs -i 200 /dev/sda1

The tune2fs -i option specifies the maximum interval between filesystem checks in days. The -i flag sets the time-based check interval, while -c sets mount-count based checks. The -d, -n, and –days options are not valid tune2fs parameters for this purpose.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. The -d option is not a valid tune2fs parameter
  • C. The -c option sets checks based on mount count, not days
  • D. The -n option is not a valid tune2fs parameter for check intervals
  • E. The –days option is not a valid tune2fs parameter

Question 4

Which is the default percentage of reserved space for the root user on new ext4 filesystems?

  1. 10%
  2. 3%
  3. 15%
  4. 0%
  5. 5%
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: E. 5%

The default reserved space percentage for the root user on ext4 filesystems is 5%. This reserved space prevents the filesystem from becoming completely full and ensures the root user can still perform administrative operations when the disk is nearly full.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. 10% is higher than the default ext4 reserved percentage
  • B. 3% is lower than the default ext4 reserved percentage
  • C. 15% is significantly higher than the default ext4 reserved percentage
  • D. 0% would mean no reserved space, which is not the default

Question 5

Which of the following is true when a file system, which is neither listed in /etc/fstab nor known to system, is mounted manually?

  1. systemd ignores any manual mounts which are not done using the systemctl mount command
  2. The command systemctl mountsync can be used to create a mount unit based on the existing mount
  3. systemd automatically generates a mount unit and monitors the mount point without changing it
  4. Unless a systemd mount unit is created, systemd unmounts the file system after a short period of time
  5. systemctl unmount must be used to remove the mount because system opens a file descriptor on the mount point
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. systemd automatically generates a mount unit and monitors the mount point without changing it

When a filesystem is mounted manually but not listed in /etc/fstab, systemd automatically generates a transient mount unit for it and monitors the mount point without making changes. This allows systemd to track and manage the mount while preserving the manual mount configuration.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. systemd does track manual mounts even without explicit systemctl mount commands
  • B. There is no systemctl mountsync command
  • D. systemd does not automatically unmount manually mounted filesystems after a period of time
  • E. systemctl unmount is not required; standard umount works fine for manual mounts

Question 6

What does the command mount –bind do?

  1. It makes the contents of one directory available in another directory
  2. It mounts all available filesystems to the current directory
  3. It mounts all user mountable filesystems to the user's home directory
  4. It mounts all file systems listed in /etc/fstab which have the option userbind set
  5. It permanently mounts a regular file to a directory
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. It makes the contents of one directory available in another directory

The mount –bind command creates a bind mount, which makes the contents of one directory available at another location in the filesystem hierarchy. This allows the same directory to be accessible from multiple mount points without duplicating the data.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. mount –bind does not mount all available filesystems
  • C. mount –bind does not mount filesystems to the user's home directory
  • D. mount –bind does not use an 'userbind' option from /etc/fstab
  • E. mount –bind does not require or permanently mount regular files

Question 7

Consider the following output from the command ls -i:

How would a new file named c.txt be created with the same inode number as a.txt (Inode 525385)?

Exhibit for question 7

  1. ln -h a.txt c.txt
  2. ln c.txt a.txt
  3. ln a.txt c.txt
  4. ln -f c.txt a.txt
  5. ln -i 525385 c.txt ✅Correct Answer: C, ln a.txt c.txt The command ln a.txt c.txt creates a hard link named c.txt that points to the same inode as a.txt. Hard links are additional directory entries that reference the same inode number, so both filenames share inode 525385. The syntax for creating a hard link is ln <existing_file> <new_link_name>.
Show answer and explanation

The answer and explanation for this question are in the free sample PDF.

Question 8

Consider the following directory:

drwxrwxr-x 2 root sales 4096 Jan 1 15:21 sales

Which command ensures new files created within the directory sales are owned by the group sales? (Choose two.)

  1. chmod g+s sales
  2. setpol -R newgroup=sales sales
  3. chgrp -p sales sales
  4. chown –persistent *.sales sales
  5. chmod 2775 sales
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A, E

A. chmod g+s sales E. chmod 2775 sales Both chmod g+s and chmod 2775 set the setgid bit on the directory. When setgid is enabled on a directory, new files created within it automatically inherit the directory's group ownership (sales in this case). Option A uses symbolic notation while option E uses octal notation to set the same permission.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. setpol is not a valid Linux command
  • C. chgrp -p is not a valid option; the -p flag is not used with chgrp
  • D. chown –persistent is not a valid command; this syntax does not exist

Question 9

In order to display all currently mounted filesystems, which of the following commands could be used? (Choose two.)

  1. cat /proc/self/mounts
  2. free
  3. lsmounts
  4. mount
  5. cat /proc/filesystems
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A, D

A. cat /proc/self/mounts D. mount Both cat /proc/self/mounts and mount display currently mounted filesystems. The /proc/self/mounts file contains a list of all mounts for the current process namespace, while the mount command displays all mounted filesystems. Both provide real-time information about active mounts.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. free displays memory usage, not mounted filesystems
  • C. lsmounts is not a standard Linux command
  • E. cat /proc/filesystems displays supported filesystem types, not currently mounted filesystems

Question 10

Which chown command changes the ownership to dave and the group to staff on a file named data.txt?

  1. chown dave/staff data.txt
  2. chown -u dave -g staff data.txt
  3. chown –user dave –group staff data.txt
  4. chown dave+staff data.txt
  5. chown dave:staff data.txt
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: E. chown dave:staff data.txt

The chown command uses the syntax chown [owner]:[group] [file] to change both ownership and group. The colon separator is the standard format recognized by chown. Option E correctly demonstrates this with chown dave:staff data.txt, which changes ownership to dave and group to staff.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Forward slash is not a valid separator in chown syntax.
  • B. The -u and -g flags do not exist for chown; chown does not use flag-based user and group specification.
  • C. The –user and –group long options do not exist for chown.
  • D. The plus symbol is not a valid separator in chown syntax.

That was 10 of 120.

The full LPI LPIC-1 101-500 pack has all 120 questions, each with the answer, the explanation and why the other options are wrong, plus a questions-only copy for timed runs. US$39, paid once, with free monthly updates and a pass-or-your-money-back guarantee.

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