Here are top system design questions that are often encountered in Microsoft interviews. These types of questions are representative of the challenges you might face in a system design interview at Microsoft or similar companies:

1. Design a Scalable Web Service/API:

   • Example: "How would you design a scalable URL shortening service like bit.ly?"

2. Design a Real-Time Messaging Service:

   • Example: "Design a real-time chat application."

3. Design a Distributed File System:

   • Example: "How would you design a system like Dropbox or Google Drive?"

4. Design a Data Warehouse System:

   • Example: "Design a data warehousing system to handle high-velocity data ingestion and complex query processing."

5. Design a Global Content Delivery Network (CDN):

   • Example: "How would you design a CDN to serve content to a global user base?"

6. Design a Social Media Feed:

   • Example: "Design a system like the Facebook newsfeed or Twitter timeline."

7. Design a Search Engine:

   • Example: "How would you design a search engine to index and retrieve web pages efficiently?"

8. Design a Recommendation System:

   • Example: "Design a recommendation engine, like the ones used by Amazon or Netflix."

9. Design a Scalable Video Streaming Service:

   • Example: "How would you design a video streaming service like YouTube or Netflix?"

10. Design an Online Multiplayer Game Backend:

• Example: "Design the backend system for an online multiplayer game."

11. Design a System for Handling Large-Scale Logs:

• Example: "Design a system to collect and process log data from multiple servers."

12. Design an E-commerce System:

• Example: "How would you design an e-commerce platform to handle high traffic and provide high availability?"

13. Design an IoT Device Management System:

• Example: "Design a system for managing IoT (Internet of Things) devices."

14. Design a Rate Limiting System:

• Example: "Design an API rate limiter to control the amount of traffic a client can send."

15. Design a System for Real-Time Analytics:

• Example: "Design a system for real-time analytics processing of clickstream data."

Remember, these questions are meant to assess your ability to design scalable, efficient, and reliable systems. You should be ready to discuss various aspects, including database schema, API design, scalability, fault tolerance, consistency models, and data partitioning strategies. Also, expect to be evaluated on your ability to articulate your thoughts, justify your choices, and possibly adapt your design based on the interviewer's feedback or changing requirements.

For specific preparation, it's recommended to stay updated with Microsoft's latest technologies and products, as they might influence the context or specifics of the system design questions you encounter.

Ref: Grokking the System Design Interview