What are the different states of a Process?


A process is an active program. It can also be said as a program that is under execution. It is more than the program code as it includes the program counter, process stack, registers, program code etc. Compared to this, the program code is only the text section.

A process passes through different states as it executes. These states may be different in different operating systems. However, the common process states are explained below with the help of a diagram −

OS States

New

This is the state when the process has just been created. It is the initial state in the process life cycle.

Ready

In the ready state, the process is waiting to be assigned the processor by the short term scheduler, so it can run. This state is immediately after the new state for the process.

Ready Suspended

The processes in ready suspended state are in secondary memory. They were initially in the ready state in main memory but lack of memory forced them to be suspended and gets placed in the secondary memory.

Running

The process is said to be in running state when the process instructions are being executed by the processor. This is done once the process is assigned to the processor using the short-term scheduler.

Blocked

The process is in blocked state if it is waiting for some event to occur. This event may be I/O as the I/O events are executed in the main memory and don't require the processor. After the event is complete, the process again goes to ready state.

Blocked Suspended

This is similar to ready suspended. The processes in blocked suspended state are in secondary memory. They were initially in the blocked state in main memory waiting for some event but lack of memory forced them to be suspended and gets placed in the secondary memory. A process may go from blocked suspended to ready suspended if its work is done.

Terminated

The process is terminated once it finishes its execution. In the terminated state, the process is removed from main memory and its process control block is also deleted.

Updated on: 24-Jun-2020

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