XK0-006 System Management Practice Question
A user wants to create a hard link to a file. Which three conditions must be true for a hard link to be created successfully? (Choose three.)
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
✓
The source and link must be on the same filesystem.
Hard links cannot span filesystems, cannot link to directories (except by root with special options), and the target must exist. They share the same inode.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The source file must have the SUID bit set.
Why it's wrong here
SUID bit is irrelevant for creating hard links.
- ✗
The link must have the same name as the source.
Why it's wrong here
The link can have a different name.
- ✓
The source and link must be on the same filesystem.
Why this is correct
Correct: hard links cannot cross filesystem boundaries.
- ✓
The source file must be a regular file, not a directory.
Why this is correct
Correct: hard links to directories are generally not allowed.
- ✓
The source file must exist.
Why this is correct
Correct: the target file must exist to link to it.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
File Permissions and Ownership
Key term
inode
An inode is a data structure in a Unix-like file system that stores metadata about a file, such as its size, permissions, and location on disk, but not its name.
Key term
Hard link
A hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file's data on a storage device, allowing multiple filenames to point to the same underlying inode and data blocks.
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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.