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XK0-006 Practice Question: A cron job scheduled by the root user is not…
A cron job scheduled by the root user is not executing. Which file is the most likely location for the root user's personal cron table?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse the system-wide crontab (/etc/crontab) or the cron.d directory with per-user crontab files, not realizing that each user's personal crontab is stored in /var/spool/cron/ with the username as the filename.
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
✓
/var/spool/cron/root
On Linux systems, each user's personal crontab file is stored in /var/spool/cron/ (or /var/spool/cron/crontabs/ on some distributions). For the root user, this file is typically named 'root' (i.e., /var/spool/cron/root). When the root user runs 'crontab -e', the cron daemon reads from this file to execute scheduled tasks. If this file is missing or misconfigured, the root user's cron jobs will not run.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
/var/spool/cron/root
Why this is correct
User crontabs are stored in /var/spool/cron/.
- ✗
/var/spool/cron/crontabs
Why it's wrong here
Not a standard location for user crontabs.
- ✗
/etc/crontab
Why it's wrong here
System-wide crontab, not per-user.
- ✗
/etc/cron.d
Why it's wrong here
Directory for system cron jobs from packages.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Linux Fundamentals and History
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
Key term
cron
Cron is a time-based job scheduler in Unix-like operating systems that automatically runs commands or scripts at specified dates and times.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This XK0-006 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the XK0-006 exam.