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220-1202 Practice Question: That their virtual machine running on a Type 2…
A user reports that their virtual machine running on a Type 2 hypervisor is extremely slow. The host machine has 16 GB of RAM, and the VM is configured with 8 GB. The host's task manager shows 90% memory usage. What should the technician do to improve the VM's performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mistake is the misconception that adding more virtual resources (vCPUs or disk provisioning changes) always improves performance, when in reality the root cause is host memory starvation, and the correct fix is to reduce the VM's allocated RAM.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Reduce the amount of RAM allocated to the VM to 4 GB.
The host is experiencing 90% memory pressure, meaning the host OS is starved of RAM. A Type 2 hypervisor (like VMware Workstation or VirtualBox) relies on the host OS to manage memory; if the host is paging heavily, the VM will also suffer. Reducing the VM’s allocated RAM from 8 GB to 4 GB frees memory for the host, reducing swapping and improving overall VM performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the number of virtual CPUs assigned to the VM.
Why it's wrong here
Adding more vCPUs would not help if the bottleneck is memory; it could even worsen performance due to scheduling overhead.
- ✓
Reduce the amount of RAM allocated to the VM to 4 GB.
Why this is correct
Reducing the VM's RAM frees up memory for the host, alleviating the memory pressure and improving overall performance.
- ✗
Change the virtual disk from thin to thick provisioning.
Why it's wrong here
Disk provisioning type affects storage, not memory performance, and would not address the high memory usage.
- ✗
Enable hyper-threading on the host CPU.
Why it's wrong here
Hyper-threading is a CPU feature that may improve multi-threading but does not directly solve a memory shortage.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1202 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1202 exam.