Context Switch - Context Switch: Steps

Context Switch: Steps

In a switch, the state of the first process must be saved somehow, so that, when the scheduler gets back to the execution of the first process, it can restore this state and continue.

The state of the process includes all the registers that the process may be using, especially the program counter, plus any other operating system specific data that may be necessary. This data is usually stored in a data structure called a process control block (PCB), or switchframe.

In order to switch processes, the PCB for the first process must be created and saved. The PCBs are sometimes stored upon a per-process stack in kernel memory (as opposed to the user-mode call stack), or there may be some specific operating system defined data structure for this information.

Since the operating system has effectively suspended the execution of the first process, it can now load the PCB and context of the second process. In doing so, the program counter from the PCB is loaded, and thus execution can continue in the new process. New processes are chosen from a queue or queues. Process and thread priority can influence which process continues execution, with processes of the highest priority checked first for ready threads to execute.