Hands-on Task : Understanding Operating Systems

 

🔹 Hands-on Task 1: Check OS Details

✅ Windows:
Open Command Prompt (Win + R → cmd) and run:

powershell

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"

✅ Linux/macOS:
Open a terminal and run:

bash

uname -a
cat /etc/os-release

📝 Observe the OS name, version, and kernel details.

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✅ Windows:

Open Command Prompt (Win + R → cmd) and run:

The command:

cmd

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"

Explanation:

systeminfo

• This command displays detailed system information, including OS details, architecture, installed updates, BIOS version, and more.

| (Pipe Operator)

• The pipe (|) takes the output of systeminfo and passes it as input to the next command (findstr).

findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"

• findstr is used to filter specific lines from the output.
• /B → Matches only lines that start at the beginning (B stands for "beginning").
• /C:"OS Name" → Searches for lines that contain exactly "OS Name".
• /C:"OS Version" → Searches for lines that contain exactly "OS Version".

The /C: option is used to specify that findstr should search for exactly the string that follows the /C: option, including spaces and special characters.

What it does:

• /C:"OS Version": This tells findstr to look for the exact phrase "OS Version" (including the space between "OS" and "Version").
• Without the /C option, findstr would look for the individual characters "O", "S", "V", "e", "r", "s", "i", "o", "n" in any order, which could lead to incorrect results. However, with /C, it ensures that only the full string "OS Version" is matched.

Purpose:

This command extracts and displays only the Operating System Name and Operating System Version from the systeminfo output.

Example Output:

cmd

OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
OS Version:                10.0.22621 N/A Build 22621

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✅ Linux/macOS:
Open a terminal and run:

bash

uname -a
cat /etc/os-release

1. uname -a:

• uname is a command used to print system information. The -a option tells uname to display all available system information.

The output of uname -a typically includes the following details:

• Kernel name: The name of the operating system kernel (e.g., Linux).
• Node name: The hostname of the machine.
• Kernel release: The version of the kernel.
• Kernel version: The complete version of the kernel, including build details.
• Machine architecture: The architecture of the system (e.g., x86_64 for 64-bit).
• Processor type: The type of processor (e.g., x86_64).
• Hardware platform: The platform the system is running on (e.g., x86_64 or arm).
• Operating System: The name of the operating system (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, etc.).

Example output:

graphql

Linux myhostname 5.4.0-42-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jul 9 16:05:30 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

In this example:

• Kernel name: Linux
• Node name (hostname): myhostname
• Kernel release: 5.4.0-42-generic
• Kernel version: #46-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jul 9 16:05:30 UTC 2020
• Machine architecture: x86_64
• Operating system: GNU/Linux

2. cat /etc/os-release:

• cat is a command used to display the contents of a file.
• /etc/os-release is a system file that contains information about the Linux distribution and its version.

The output from cat /etc/os-release provides detailed information about the distribution, such as:

• NAME: The name of the distribution (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS).
• VERSION: The version number of the distribution.
• ID: A lowercase identifier for the distribution (e.g., ubuntu, centos).
• VERSION_ID: The version identifier for the distribution (e.g., 20.04 for Ubuntu 20.04).
• PRETTY_NAME: A human-readable description of the OS, which might include the name and version (e.g., Ubuntu 20.04 LTS).
• HOME_URL: A URL for the distribution’s homepage.
• SUPPORT_URL: A URL for the distribution’s support page.
• BUG_REPORT_URL: A URL to report bugs for the distribution.

Example output:

ini

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
VERSION_ID="20.04"
VERSION_CODENAME=focal
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04 LTS"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal

In this example:

• NAME: Ubuntu
• VERSION: 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)
• ID: ubuntu
• VERSION_ID: 20.04
• PRETTY_NAME: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

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