220-1202 Practice Test 32 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company’s change management policy states that all changes must be reviewed by the CAB. An urgent security vulnerability is discovered that requires an immediate patch to a critical database server. The CAB is not available for 24 hours. What is the best course of action?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Apply the patch immediately and document it as an emergency change. The change management policy includes an emergency change process for urgent security vulnerabilities. Applying the patch immediately and documenting it as an emergency change aligns with ITIL best practices and the company's policy, ensuring the vulnerability is mitigated without delay while maintaining compliance through post-implementation review.

Answer

Wait for the CAB to meet and approve the change

Answer

Apply the patch but do not document it to avoid policy violation

Answer

Disconnect the server from the network until the CAB meets

Question 2

A technician is troubleshooting an Android device that has a corporate email account configured. The user can send emails but cannot receive any. The email server uses IMAP. The technician has verified the username and password are correct. What should the technician check next?

Accepted Answer

Check the incoming mail server settings (IMAP).. Since the user can send emails but not receive them, the issue is isolated to the incoming mail path. IMAP uses port 143 (or 993 for SSL/TLS) to retrieve messages, and the incoming server settings (server address, port, security type) must match the corporate email configuration. Incorrect IMAP settings would prevent the device from connecting to the server to download new emails, while SMTP (outgoing) settings remain unaffected, explaining the send-only symptom.

Answer

Check if the device's date and time are correct.

Answer

Check if the email account has exceeded its storage quota.

Answer

Check if the device is in power-saving mode.

Question 3

A technician is decommissioning a server that contained highly sensitive financial data. The server has multiple HDDs in a RAID array. The company policy requires data destruction to be certified. Which approach is most efficient and secure?

Accepted Answer

Remove each drive and wipe them individually using a secure erase tool.. Secure erase tools (e.g., ATA Secure Erase) perform a cryptographic or full overwrite at the drive firmware level, ensuring each HDD is individually sanitized and can be certified. In a RAID array, the controller may cache or stripe data, so wiping the logical volume (Option A) or reformatting (Option D) does not guarantee all physical sectors on every drive are overwritten, leaving residual data recoverable. Degaussing (Option C) destroys the drives' magnetic media but is impractical for a full chassis and may not provide certified destruction for mixed media.

Answer

Perform a single overwrite on the RAID logical volume.

Answer

Degauss the entire server chassis.

Answer

Reformat the RAID array and reinstall the OS.

Question 4

A company's security policy requires that all Windows 10 workstations automatically lock the screen after 5 minutes of inactivity. However, users in the sales department often leave their desks for extended periods. A technician configures the 'Interactive logon: Machine inactivity limit' policy to 300 seconds. Despite this, the screensaver does not activate. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The screensaver is not enabled or configured on the workstations. This question tests understanding of the relationship between the 'Interactive logon: Machine inactivity limit' policy and screensaver settings. The policy locks the workstation after the specified idle time, but it does not automatically enable the screensaver. The screensaver must be separately configured and enabled, or the lock screen will appear without a screensaver.

Answer

The 'Screen saver timeout' policy is set to a longer duration

Answer

The 'Password protect the screensaver' setting is disabled

Answer

The 'Turn off the display' power setting is set to 'Never'

Question 5

A user reports that their Windows 10 computer runs a script every time they log in that maps a network drive, but the drive mapping fails intermittently. The script uses the 'net use' command. Which scripting element should be added to handle the failure gracefully and retry the mapping?

Accepted Answer

An exit code check and a loop to retry the mapping. This question tests basic error handling in scripting. Adding error-checking logic, such as checking the exit code of 'net use' and retrying if it fails, makes the script more robust. A simple 'if errorlevel' or 'if %errorlevel% neq 0' construct allows the script to retry the command instead of failing silently.

Answer

A comment line explaining the net use syntax

Answer

A variable to store the drive letter

Answer

A 'pause' command after the net use line

Question 6

A technician is troubleshooting a printer that is not printing. The user insists that the printer was working yesterday and nothing has changed. The technician finds that the printer's IP address has changed due to a DHCP lease renewal. What is the best way to explain this to the user?

Accepted Answer

Explain that the printer's IP address changed because of DHCP, and that you will assign a static IP to prevent future issues.. It directly addresses the root cause (DHCP lease renewal changing the printer's IP) and provides a clear, non-technical explanation to the user while outlining the solution (assigning a static IP). This demonstrates effective communication and professionalism by taking ownership of the issue and preventing recurrence, aligning with CompTIA's troubleshooting methodology.

Answer

Tell the user that the network changed the printer's address and it is not your fault.

Answer

Use technical jargon like 'DHCP lease expiration' and 'subnet mask misconfiguration' to sound authoritative.

Answer

Say that the printer is faulty and needs to be replaced.

Question 7

A customer calls to report that their laptop won't turn on. The technician suspects a dead battery. Which of the following responses demonstrates proper troubleshooting and professionalism?

Accepted Answer

Ask the customer to plug in the charger and see if any lights appear.. A systematic approach to troubleshooting shows competence. Starting with simple checks and explaining each step keeps the customer informed and involved.

Answer

Tell the customer to buy a new battery immediately.

Answer

Say that the motherboard is likely dead and needs replacement.

Answer

Tell the customer to bring the laptop to the shop without further questions.

Question 8

A user is trying to install a legacy application on Windows 10, but the installer fails with a message about 'incompatible version'. The application is known to work on Windows 7. Which compatibility settings should you try first to allow the installation to proceed?

Accepted Answer

Right-click the installer, go to Properties > Compatibility, and check 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 7'.. Windows 10 includes compatibility modes that emulate older versions of Windows. Running the installer in compatibility mode for Windows 7 can often resolve version-check errors, as it tricks the application into thinking it is running on a compatible OS.

Answer

Set the installer to run as an administrator.

Answer

Enable the 'Reduced color mode' compatibility setting.

Answer

Use the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter from the Control Panel.

Question 9

A company is relocating and needs to dispose of 50 old desktop computers with HDDs that contain sensitive client data. The policy requires data destruction to be verifiable and the drives to be physically destroyed. Which method meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Send the drives to a certified e-waste recycler for shredding.. Physical destruction methods like shredding or crushing provide verifiable destruction (e.g., through a certificate of destruction) and ensure the drives cannot be reused, meeting strict security policies. Degaussing also destroys data but may not physically destroy the drive.

Answer

Use a degausser and then donate the drives to a school.

Answer

Overwrite each drive with three passes of random data.

Answer

Reformat each drive and install a fresh OS for reuse.

Question 10

While configuring a new Windows 11 workstation, you need to ensure that a legacy application can always run with administrative privileges without prompting the user. The user is a standard user. What is the best way to accomplish this?

Accepted Answer

Create a scheduled task that runs with the highest privileges and launches the application at user logon.. Forcing a legacy app to run as administrator without UAC prompts for a standard user requires creating a scheduled task that runs with elevated privileges. The task can be set to run at user logon or on demand, and the application is launched by the task with the stored admin credentials. This bypasses UAC while maintaining security for the standard user account.

Answer

Set the application's compatibility mode to 'Run this program as an administrator' and grant the user full control over the program's folder.

Answer

Disable User Account Control (UAC) via the Control Panel.

Answer

Add the user to the local Administrators group.

Question 11

A user's Windows 10 laptop fails to boot and shows 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' blue screen error. The technician suspects a recent driver update for the storage controller. Which recovery environment command can be used to disable the problematic driver from loading?

Accepted Answer

Run 'bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal' from the recovery command prompt.. The 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' error often occurs after a faulty storage controller driver update. Booting into Safe Mode with minimal drivers can bypass the problematic driver. The command 'bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal' configures the boot loader to start Windows in Safe Mode on the next restart, loading only essential drivers and services, which allows the technician to roll back or uninstall the offending driver.

Answer

Run 'diskpart' and then 'clean' to wipe the disk.

Answer

Run 'chkdsk /f' to fix file system errors.

Answer

Run 'bootrec /fixboot' to repair the boot sector.

Question 12

A user reports that their Android phone's Bluetooth keeps disconnecting from their car's hands-free system. The technician has already cleared the Bluetooth cache and re-paired the devices. What should the technician do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Update the car's infotainment system firmware.. After basic troubleshooting (cache clear and re-pair) fails, the next logical step is to check for firmware updates on the car's infotainment system. Bluetooth connectivity issues between a phone and a car are often caused by incompatibilities or bugs in the car's Bluetooth stack, which can be resolved by updating the car's firmware. The technician should prioritize updating the car's system before considering hardware replacement or more drastic phone resets.

Answer

Perform a factory reset on the phone.

Answer

Replace the phone's Bluetooth antenna.

Answer

Disable Bluetooth power saving mode on the phone.

Question 13

A help desk technician receives a complaint that a shared network printer is no longer accessible after a scheduled firmware update was applied to the print server last night. The change was documented but no rollback plan was included. What should the technician do first?

Accepted Answer

Restore the print server to its previous firmware version.. The scheduled firmware update directly caused the printer to become inaccessible, and without a documented rollback plan, reverting to the previous firmware version is the safest and most immediate way to restore service. This aligns with change management best practices, which prioritize backing out a failed change before troubleshooting further, as the root cause is clearly the firmware update.

Answer

Reboot the print server to clear any temporary errors.

Answer

Submit a new change request to update the firmware again.

Answer

Disable the printer in Active Directory and re-add it.

Question 14

A technician is tasked with disposing of several old UPS batteries from a server room. What is the most environmentally responsible method?

Accepted Answer

Take them to a local battery recycling center.. UPS batteries contain hazardous materials such as lead and sulfuric acid, which must be handled through specialized recycling processes to prevent environmental contamination. Local battery recycling centers are equipped to safely extract and reuse these materials, complying with regulations like the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in the U.S.

Answer

Place them in the regular dumpster for pickup.

Answer

Burn them in an incinerator to recover energy.

Answer

Store them indefinitely in a sealed container.

Question 15

A user reports that after installing a free PDF converter from an advertisement, their browser homepage changed and they see constant pop-ups for antivirus software. A malware scan found PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs). What is the best next step to fully remove the unwanted software and restore browser settings?

Accepted Answer

Use a dedicated adware removal tool and then reset the browser.. PUPs often embed deeply into browser settings and registry entries that a standard uninstall or System Restore may not fully remove. A dedicated adware removal tool targets these specific traces, and resetting the browser ensures all malicious extensions, search providers, and homepage hijacks are cleared, restoring default security configurations.

Answer

Run System Restore to a point before installation.

Answer

Manually delete the program from Program Files.

Answer

Disable the browser's JavaScript and ActiveX.