easyMultiple Choice
XK0-006 Practice Question: A junior administrator reports that users cannot…
A junior administrator reports that users cannot connect to a file server running Samba. The server is reachable via ping. Logs from the Samba service show: 'smbd: error while loading shared libraries: libgnutls.so.30: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'. The administrator confirms the package 'libgnutls' is installed. Which of the following is the most likely cause and solution?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates see 'package is installed' and assume the library is available, overlooking the need to update the linker cache with `ldconfig` after installation.
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
✓
The library path is not set; run ldconfig.
The error 'cannot open shared object file' indicates that the dynamic linker cannot find the libgnutls.so.30 library at runtime, even though the libgnutls package is installed. Running `ldconfig` updates the linker cache, which rebuilds the mapping of shared library names to their actual file paths, resolving the missing library reference for Samba.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The library path is not set; run ldconfig.
Why this is correct
Running `ldconfig` rebuilds the dynamic linker's cache (`/etc/ld.so.cache`), letting `smbd` resolve `libgnutls.so.30` at runtime. The package being installed but the library still unfindable points to a stale or missing cache, not a missing file — exactly the constraint the stem describes.
- ✗
The system libraries are out of sync; run apt-get update.
Why it's wrong here
Running apt-get update only refreshes package index metadata; it neither installs nor relinks the missing libgnutls.so.30 shared object that smbd's dynamic linker cannot resolve. It is tempting because stale indexes do cause dependency failures during installs, making it the right fix when apt reports unavailable packages rather than a runtime linker error.
- ✗
The Samba package is corrupted; reinstall Samba.
Why it's wrong here
Reinstalling Samba leaves the missing libgnutls.so.30 shared object unresolved, since smbd's dynamic linker fails before Samba's own binaries execute; the fault lies in the dependency, not the package. Reinstalling is tempting because corrupted binaries do produce load failures, and it would be correct if smbd itself were damaged rather than a library.
- ✗
The Samba service is not running; restart it.
Why it's wrong here
smbd fails before starting because the dynamic linker cannot resolve libgnutls.so.30, so restarting a service that never launched changes nothing; restarting is tempting because it resolves crashes of running daemons, but here the missing shared object must be located or the library path corrected first.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This XK0-006 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 XK0-006 exam.