When an interrupt occurs, an operating system A. ignores the interrupt B. always changes state of interrupted process after processing the interrupt C. always resumes execution of interrupted process after processing the interrupt D. may change state of interrupted process to 'blocked' and schedule another process

GATE 1997 · Operating System · Interrupts · medium

Answer: D. may change state of interrupted process to 'blocked' and schedule another process

1. Eliminate options A, B, and C: A: OS never ignores accepted interrupts — it must service them. B: OS does not ALWAYS change the state — it may resume the same process. C: OS does not ALWAYS resume the interrupted process — preemptive scheduling may switch to another process.
2. Confirm option D: After processing an interrupt, the OS scheduler re-evaluates which process to run. If the interrupt caused a higher-priority process to become ready (e.g., I/O completion), the OS may change the interrupted process's state to 'blocked' (if it was waiting) or 'ready' and then schedule a different process. This is the standard behavior in preemptive OSes.