AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
Exhibit
Recovery Services vault > Backup item > vm-finance01 Restore points available: 3 Most recent recovery point: 2026-04-25 01:00 UTC Requirement: restore C:\Data\Quarterly\budget.xlsx only
Based on the exhibit, a user accidentally deleted one file from the VM and you need to restore only that file without recovering the entire virtual machine. What should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'file recovery' with 'full VM restore' or assume that only a full restore can recover data, overlooking the granular file-level recovery capability built into Azure Backup.
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
✓
Run file recovery from the available recovery point.
Azure Backup for Azure VMs supports file-level recovery from VM backup snapshots without restoring the entire VM. By selecting 'File Recovery' from the backup item's recovery point, you can mount the backup as a drive on the VM or a recovery machine, browse the file system, and copy the deleted file back to its original location. This avoids the overhead and downtime of a full VM restore.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Run file recovery from the available recovery point.
Why this is correct
Azure VM backup supports file-level recovery from a restore point. Because only one file is needed, file recovery is the least disruptive and most efficient choice. It mounts the recovery point and lets you copy back the missing file without restoring the entire VM or its disks.
- ✗
Restore the entire VM to the original resource group.
Why it's wrong here
Restoring the entire VM to the original resource group may overlap with the existing VM's name, IP addresses, or managed disks, causing restoration failures or requiring you to delete or rename the current VM. Even if you choose 'create new VM', you are restoring all disks and the full operating system when only one file is missing, which dramatically increases restore time. File-level recovery is the least invasive option because it mounts just the disk from the recovery point so you can copy out the specific file.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked to recover a VM that has been accidentally deleted or corrupted, and you need to restore it to its original state, then restoring the entire VM from a recovery point to the original resource group would be correct.
- ✗
Create a new backup policy with longer retention and wait for the next backup.
Why it's wrong here
Changing backup retention does not retroactively affect existing restore points; retention policies only govern how long new backups are kept. The missing file is already present in the current recovery point, so you can launch a file recovery immediately without waiting for another backup. Postponing recovery increases the risk of additional data loss and is unnecessary, because the recovery point already contains the exact file you need.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked: 'You need to ensure that future deleted files can be recovered for up to 30 days, but the current policy only retains backups for 7 days. What should you do?'
- ✗
Use Azure Monitor alerts to trigger an automatic file restore.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Monitor alerts are designed to notify on conditions such as resource health or metric thresholds; they have no native built-in action to execute an Azure Backup file recovery. While an action group could theoretically trigger an automation runbook that calls Backup REST APIs, that is custom engineering, not a supported out-of-box recovery mechanism. The intended and supported path to retrieve a single file is to use Azure Backup's 'File Recovery' option from an available recovery point.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked: 'You need to automatically restore a file from backup whenever a specific event occurs, such as a file deletion detected by Azure Monitor.' Then using Azure Monitor alerts to trigger an automation runbook or logic app that performs file restore would be correct.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-104 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Run file recovery from the available recovery point.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Azure VM backup supports file-level recovery from a restore point. Because only one file is needed, file recovery is the least disruptive and most efficient choice. It mounts the recovery point and lets you copy back the missing file without restoring the entire VM or its disks.
✗Restore the entire VM to the original resource group.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Restoring the entire VM to the original resource group would recover the whole virtual machine, not just the single deleted file, which is not the required action.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked to recover a VM that has been accidentally deleted or corrupted, and you need to restore it to its original state, then restoring the entire VM from a recovery point to the original resource group would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that restoring the entire VM is the only way to recover files, not knowing that Azure Backup supports file-level recovery from VM backups.
✗Create a new backup policy with longer retention and wait for the next backup.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Creating a new backup policy with longer retention does not restore the already deleted file; it only affects future backups. The file was deleted before the new policy takes effect, so no recovery point exists for it.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked: 'You need to ensure that future deleted files can be recovered for up to 30 days, but the current policy only retains backups for 7 days. What should you do?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that adjusting the backup policy will retroactively protect the deleted file, misunderstanding that retention policies apply only to backups taken after the change.
✗Use Azure Monitor alerts to trigger an automatic file restore.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Azure Monitor alerts are for monitoring and triggering actions based on metrics or logs, not for file-level recovery from backups. File recovery requires using Azure Backup's file recovery feature from a recovery point.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked: 'You need to automatically restore a file from backup whenever a specific event occurs, such as a file deletion detected by Azure Monitor.' Then using Azure Monitor alerts to trigger an automation runbook or logic app that performs file restore would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think Azure Monitor can handle any automated recovery task, confusing its alerting and action capabilities with backup-specific restore operations.
Analysis generated from the official AZ-104blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,049 original AZ-104 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-104 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-104 exam.