easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
220-1201 Practice Question: A customer reports that their laptop can connect…
A customer reports that their laptop can connect to the internet via a wired connection but cannot access any network shares or printers by hostname. They can ping the IP address of the file server. Which network service is most likely misconfigured?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse DNS with DHCP, thinking that DHCP provides name resolution, but DHCP only provides the address of the DNS server—it does not perform the actual hostname-to-IP translation.
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
✓
DNS
The user can ping the file server by IP address, which confirms that basic IP connectivity (Layer 3) is working. However, they cannot access network shares or printers by hostname, which indicates that the system cannot resolve those hostnames to IP addresses. DNS (Domain Name System) is the service responsible for translating hostnames to IP addresses, so a misconfigured DNS server or client DNS settings would cause exactly this symptom.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
DHCP
Why it's wrong here
DHCP assigns IP addresses and other network settings, but the customer already has a valid IP and can ping by IP, so DHCP is not the issue.
- ✓
DNS
Why this is correct
DNS resolves hostnames to IP addresses. Since the customer can access resources by IP but not by hostname, DNS is misconfigured or not resolving local names.
- ✗
NAT
Why it's wrong here
NAT translates private IPs to public IPs for internet access, but the customer can already reach the internet via wired connection, so NAT is working.
- ✗
ARP
Why it's wrong here
ARP resolves IP addresses to MAC addresses on the local network. Since the customer can ping by IP, ARP is functioning correctly.
Visual reference
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Laptop Hardware and Components
Key term
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the internet's phonebook that translates human-friendly domain names like google.com into computer-friendly IP addresses like 172.217.0.46.
Key term
Name Server
A name server is a specialized server that translates human-readable domain names into machine-readable IP addresses so that computers can find each other on a network.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 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 220-1201 exam.