220-1201 Practice Exam 60 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A network administrator is troubleshooting a connectivity issue between two servers. Server A has IP 192.168.10.25/25, and Server B has IP 192.168.10.200/25. Server A can ping its default gateway (192.168.10.1) but cannot ping Server B. What is the most likely cause?

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

Accepted Answer

The servers are on different subnets and require a router to communicate.. Server A (192.168.10.25/25) has a subnet mask of 255.255.255.128, placing it in the 192.168.10.0/25 subnet (range 0–127). Server B (192.168.10.200/25) is in the 192.168.10.128/25 subnet (range 128–255). These are different subnets, so Server A cannot reach Server B directly via Layer 2; a router (or Layer 3 switch) is required to forward traffic between them. The fact that Server A can ping its default gateway (192.168.10.1) confirms its IP and mask are correctly configured for its own subnet.

Answer

Server A has a duplicate IP address.

Answer

The subnet mask is incorrect on one of the servers.

Answer

The default gateway is misconfigured.

Question 2

A user's smartphone can send and receive text messages but cannot access the internet over cellular data. Wi-Fi internet works fine. Which setting is most likely misconfigured?

Accepted Answer

The APN settings are incorrect.. The APN (Access Point Name) defines the gateway between the mobile network and the internet. If the APN settings are incorrect or missing, the device can still register on the cellular network for voice and SMS (which use the control plane) but cannot establish a data session (user plane) because the packet data network gateway cannot be reached. Wi-Fi internet works fine because it bypasses the cellular data path entirely.

Answer

The Wi-Fi hotspot is enabled.

Answer

Bluetooth is turned on.

Answer

The device is in roaming mode.

Question 3

A company's web server is accessible from the internet, but users report that they cannot upload files to it using a web browser. The server is configured to allow file uploads via HTTP. Which protocol is most likely being blocked by the firewall?

Accepted Answer

HTTP. The question states that the server is configured to allow file uploads via HTTP, yet users cannot upload files using a web browser. Since HTTP (port 80) is the protocol used for web browser uploads, the firewall is most likely blocking HTTP traffic. If HTTP were allowed, the uploads would succeed; the symptom points directly to HTTP being blocked.

Answer

HTTPS

Answer

FTP

Answer

SMTP

Question 4

A user complains that their external USB hard drive is making a clicking sound and is no longer recognized by any computer. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The drive has experienced a mechanical failure.. Clicking sounds from a hard drive typically indicate a mechanical failure, such as a stuck read/write head or damaged platters. This is a classic sign of a failing drive, not a software or connection issue.

Answer

The USB cable is damaged.

Answer

The drive has suffered a logical failure.

Answer

The drive's enclosure is faulty.

Question 5

A technician is troubleshooting a VoIP phone that cannot register with the call server. The phone has a valid IP address and can ping the call server by IP. Which protocol is most likely not functioning correctly?

Accepted Answer

SIP. The phone has a valid IP address and can ping the call server by IP, which confirms that Layer 3 connectivity and DHCP are working. However, the phone cannot register with the call server, which requires the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to exchange registration messages (REGISTER request and 200 OK response). If SIP is misconfigured, blocked by a firewall, or the SIP proxy is unreachable, registration will fail even though basic IP connectivity exists.

Answer

RTP

Answer

DHCP

Answer

DNS

Question 6

A technician is installing a new thermal printer for a retail point-of-sale system. After connecting the printer and installing the driver, the printer prints garbled characters and random symbols. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The printer driver is incorrect for the model. Garbled characters or random symbols often indicate a driver mismatch or incorrect printer language setting. Thermal printers typically use ESC/POS or similar commands. Installing the wrong driver or having the communication settings (baud rate, parity) misconfigured can cause the printer to misinterpret data.

Answer

The thermal paper is loaded upside down

Answer

The printhead is dirty

Answer

The printer is out of paper

Question 7

A user complains that their smartphone's screen protector has started peeling off at the edges after a few weeks. They installed it themselves. What is the most likely cause of this problem?

Accepted Answer

The user did not clean the screen properly before installation, leaving dust or oil.. Improper cleaning leaves dust, oil, or debris on the screen, which creates microscopic gaps between the adhesive and the glass. These contaminants prevent full adhesion, causing the edges to lift over time as the protector is subjected to daily handling and temperature changes.

Answer

The screen protector is of low quality and does not fit the device model.

Answer

The smartphone case is too tight and pushes the protector off.

Answer

The device's screen has a factory oleophobic coating that repels the adhesive.

Question 8

A customer complains that their external USB hard drive is not recognized when plugged into any port on their laptop. The drive spins up and its LED lights up. The drive works fine on another computer. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The laptop is missing or has corrupted USB mass storage drivers.. This question tests basic USB troubleshooting. The drive spins up and lights up, indicating power is reaching it, but it is not recognized. This often points to a driver issue on the laptop. The other options are less likely because the drive works on another computer and the LED is on.

Answer

The USB port is physically damaged.

Answer

The external drive's enclosure has a faulty controller board.

Answer

The USB cable is defective.

Question 9

A company uses a proxy server for internet access. Users report that they can access internal websites but cannot reach external sites. The proxy server's IP is configured in the browser settings. Which network service is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

Proxy server. The proxy server is configured in the browser settings, but users can reach internal websites (which bypass the proxy) while failing to reach external sites (which require the proxy). This indicates the proxy server itself is not functioning or unreachable, as it is the designated intermediary for external traffic. DNS, DHCP, and NAT would affect both internal and external access if they were failing, so the proxy server is the most likely culprit.

Answer

DNS

Answer

DHCP

Answer

NAT

Question 10

A technician is configuring a virtual machine to host a database server that requires consistent high disk I/O performance. The host uses a RAID 10 array of SSDs. Which virtual disk type should the technician select to minimize overhead and maximize performance?

Accepted Answer

Fixed-size virtual disk. A fixed-size virtual disk (also called thick provisioning) allocates all required space at creation, reducing fragmentation and I/O overhead compared to dynamically expanding disks. This is best for performance-sensitive workloads like databases.

Answer

Dynamically expanding virtual disk

Answer

Differencing virtual disk

Answer

Thin provisioned virtual disk

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a laptop that cannot connect to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi network, but it connects to 2.4 GHz networks without issue. The laptop supports dual-band Wi-Fi. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The laptop's Wi-Fi driver is outdated or misconfigured for 5 GHz.. Since the laptop connects successfully to 2.4 GHz networks but fails on 5 GHz, the hardware is functional for 2.4 GHz, but the driver or configuration may not support the 5 GHz band properly. An outdated or misconfigured Wi-Fi driver is the most likely cause because it can fail to enable the 5 GHz radio or negotiate 802.11a/n/ac protocols correctly.

Answer

The 5 GHz router is too far from the laptop.

Answer

The 5 GHz network is using WEP encryption.

Answer

The laptop's Wi-Fi card is only 2.4 GHz capable.

Question 12

A technician is troubleshooting a network drop that was working yesterday but now has no link light at the switch. The cable run is 80 meters and passes through a conduit. Which tool should be used first to isolate the problem?

Accepted Answer

A cable tester.. A cable tester (often a wiremap tester) is the first tool to use when verifying basic connectivity and physical layer issues like broken wires, shorts, or miswiring. Since the link light is absent and the cable was working before, the most likely cause is a physical fault in the 80-meter run, and a cable tester can quickly confirm continuity and pinout without requiring advanced diagnostics.

Answer

A tone generator and probe.

Answer

A multimeter.

Answer

A time-domain reflectometer (TDR).

Question 13

A company uses virtual machines for its production environment. A technician needs to perform maintenance on the host server without disrupting the VMs. The technician wants to move the VMs to another host in the cluster while they are running. Which feature must be configured to allow this?

Accepted Answer

Live migration (vMotion). Live migration (vMotion in VMware, live migration in Hyper-V) allows moving running VMs between hosts with zero downtime. This is a key feature for high availability and maintenance. The correct answer directly names this feature.

Answer

Virtual machine snapshots

Answer

Virtual switch trunking

Answer

Resource pooling

Question 14

A user reports that their computer is running very slowly and they hear a repetitive clicking sound from the case. The technician checks the SMART status of the primary hard drive and sees a 'Reallocated Sectors Count' value that is critically high. What should the technician do next?

Accepted Answer

Back up all important data immediately.. A high reallocated sectors count indicates the drive is failing and likely to suffer data loss. The priority is to back up critical data immediately, then replace the drive. Continuing to use the drive risks permanent data loss.

Answer

Run a disk defragmentation to improve performance.

Answer

Replace the SATA cable and power connector.

Answer

Disable the paging file to reduce disk activity.

Question 15

A user's SATA SSD is not detected by the BIOS after a power surge. The motherboard has four SATA ports, and the SSD was previously working on port 0. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SSD has been corrupted by the surge.. Power surges can damage electronic components. The SSD not being detected in BIOS after a surge points to hardware failure, most likely the SSD itself. Other SATA ports and cables are less likely to be the sole issue.

Answer

The SATA cable is loose.

Answer

The SATA port is disabled in BIOS.

Answer

The motherboard's SATA controller is damaged.

Question 16

A customer reports that their external USB hard drive is not recognized when plugged into the front USB ports of their desktop, but it works fine on the back ports. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The front USB ports do not supply enough power.. This question tests knowledge of USB port power delivery and cable length limitations. Front USB ports often share a single internal header and may deliver less power than rear ports directly on the motherboard, causing high-power devices like external hard drives to fail.

Answer

The USB cable is too short.

Answer

The front USB ports are not connected to the motherboard.

Answer

The hard drive is formatted with the wrong file system.

Question 17

A technician is configuring a RAID 5 array with three 1 TB HDDs on a motherboard RAID controller. After setup, the array works but the system occasionally freezes during heavy disk I/O. The drives are all SATA 3 Gb/s and the motherboard supports SATA 6 Gb/s. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The drives are overheating due to continuous I/O.. Mixing SATA speeds (3 Gb/s drives on a 6 Gb/s controller) is generally backward-compatible and should not cause freezes. The freezing during heavy I/O suggests a thermal issue, as RAID 5 rebuilds and heavy writes generate significant heat. Overheating can cause drives to throttle or the controller to lock up.

Answer

The SATA 3 Gb/s drives are bottlenecking the SATA 6 Gb/s controller.

Answer

The RAID controller's firmware is outdated.

Answer

The stripe size is set too small.

Question 18

A customer brings in a desktop PC with a 4K monitor that displays a blurry image at native resolution. The monitor's settings show 3840x2160 resolution, but text is hard to read. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The display scaling is set to 100%.. Blurry text at native resolution on a 4K monitor often indicates incorrect scaling settings in the operating system. Windows scaling should be set to 150% or 200% to make text readable, otherwise it appears too small and blurry due to pixel density.

Answer

The monitor's sharpness setting is too low.

Answer

The HDMI cable does not support 4K.

Answer

The graphics card is overheating.

Question 19

A user reports that their computer is connected to the network but cannot access any websites. The technician checks the IP configuration and sees an IP address of 169.254.1.5. What does this indicate?

Accepted Answer

The DHCP server is unavailable or the computer cannot reach it.. An IP address in the 169.254.x.x range is an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, assigned when a DHCP server is unreachable. This means the computer failed to get a valid IP from DHCP, so it cannot communicate beyond the local link.

Answer

The computer has a valid static IP address.

Answer

The DNS server is not responding.

Answer

The network cable is unplugged.

Question 20

A network administrator is troubleshooting a connectivity issue between two servers. Server A has IP 192.168.10.25/25, and Server B has IP 192.168.10.200/25. Server A can ping its default gateway (192.168.10.1) but cannot ping Server B. What is the most likely cause?

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

Accepted Answer

Check the light level with a power meter.. Dirty connectors are a common cause of fiber issues, but if cleaning doesn't resolve it, the next step is to verify the light level using a power meter. This will determine if the signal is strong enough or if there is attenuation from other causes like bends or damaged cables.

Answer

Replace the entire fiber cable.

Answer

Swap the SFP modules on both ends.

Answer

Run a loopback test on the switch ports.