220-1102 Operating Systems Practice Question
A developer needs to run a native Linux command-line tool on a Windows 10 Pro workstation. The technician wants to enable the appropriate Windows feature to support this. Which feature should be installed?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Hyper-V with WSL, thinking a full virtual machine is required to run Linux tools, when WSL provides a lighter-weight, integrated solution specifically designed for this purpose.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) allows native Linux command-line tools to run directly on Windows 10 Pro without a virtual machine. It translates Linux system calls into Windows kernel calls, enabling tools like bash, grep, and sed to execute natively. This is the correct feature for running a native Linux command-line tool on a Windows workstation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Why this is correct
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a Microsoft-supported compatibility layer—and in WSL2, a lightweight utility VM running a real Linux kernel—that executes native Linux ELF binaries directly on Windows 10 without booting a full guest OS. It exposes the Windows file system under /mnt/c, supports standard console I/O, and lets developers run bash, grep, apt, and Python seamlessly from PowerShell or cmd. This is the intended, low-overhead way to run Linux command-line tools natively on Windows 10 Pro.
- ✗
Hyper-V
Why it's wrong here
Hyper-V is a Type 1 hypervisor that virtualizes entire hardware to host full Linux virtual machines, each requiring its own guest OS, RAM, CPU allocation, and startup sequence. To run a simple tool like ls or grep, you would have to boot the VM, log in to the guest, and execute the command inside that isolated environment—a heavy, multi-step process with noticeable overhead. While it can run Linux, it is not a native command-line solution and is far more complex than WSL for this specific scenario.
- ✗
Remote Desktop Services
Why it's wrong here
Remote Desktop Services provides graphical remote access to Windows desktops and applications over RDP, streaming screen and input data to clients. It does not install or interpret any Linux binary format on the local machine; a Linux tool would need to reside on a separate remote Linux host and be accessed via a remote shell, but RDS itself does not deliver that shell. Using RDS to execute a single native Linux command is both architecturally wrong and operationally impractical.
- ✗
.NET Framework 3.5
Why it's wrong here
.NET Framework 3.5 is a managed runtime that compiles C#/VB.NET code to Common Intermediate Language and then Just-In-Time compiles that bytecode on Windows. It cannot execute native Linux executables or POSIX shell scripts, because those are ELF binaries or interpreted scripts with no .NET assembly or managed entry point. Enabling this Windows feature only supports legacy Windows applications and has no bearing on Linux command-line interoperability.
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Windows Command Line Tools
Key term
Kernel
The kernel is the core program of an operating system that manages hardware resources and provides essential services for all other software to run.
Key term
Linux
Linux is an open-source operating system that manages computer hardware and software, widely used in servers, desktops, and embedded systems.
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