AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
Exhibit
Azure Backup recovery point --------------------------- Protected item: win-file01 Restore points available: 2026-04-25 23:00, 2026-04-26 23:00 Recovery option selected in portal: Restore virtual machine User impact: One file missing at C:\Data\Reports\April.xlsx Goal: Recover only the deleted file
Based on the exhibit, a user deleted one file from a Windows Azure VM. The VM is still running, and the administrator wants to restore only that file instead of recovering the full machine. Which restore approach should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume file-level recovery requires restoring the entire VM (Option A) or confuse diagnostic logs with backup data (Option D), not realizing that Azure Backup's mount-and-copy feature is specifically designed for granular file recovery from a running VM.
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
✓
Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.
Azure VM backup allows you to mount a recovery point as a disk on another VM or the same VM, enabling file-level restore without overwriting the entire VM. This approach uses the 'File Recovery' feature of Azure Backup, which presents the recovery point as an iSCSI target that can be mounted and browsed to copy individual files back to the running VM.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use the VM restore option and overwrite the entire VM.
Why it's wrong here
Performing a full VM restore, whether by replacing the existing disk or restoring to a new VM, is disproportionate when only one file is missing. It stops or duplicates the whole workload, requires validation of the restored VM, and risks discarding post-backup changes. The operation is intended for catastrophic failures, not granular file recovery, so it is technically valid but operationally wrong here.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked for recovering a VM after a catastrophic failure where the entire VM is corrupted or unavailable, and the goal is to restore the full machine to a previous state.
- ✓
Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.
Why this is correct
Azure Backup's file-level recovery lets you mount a chosen recovery point as a browsable drive without affecting the running VM. You can simply copy the deleted file back to its original location. This avoids a full virtual machine restore, minimizing downtime and preventing unnecessary overwrites of other changes, making it the precise, least-invasive solution.
- ✗
Increase the VM size and redeploy the workload.
Why it's wrong here
Resizing an Azure VM changes the VM SKU, which adjusts vCPUs, memory, and storage limits, while redeployment migrates the VM to a different physical host. Neither action reads or rewrites the virtual disk's file system, so a file deleted from the OS is not recovered. This is a capacity or infrastructure troubleshooting step, completely unrelated to data protection.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked how to resolve performance issues due to insufficient resources (e.g., CPU or memory) and redeploy the workload to take advantage of the new size.
- ✗
Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM and recover the file from logs.
Why it's wrong here
Diagnostic settings on a VM, such as boot logging, performance counters, and event logs, are streamed to a storage account or Log Analytics workspace. They do not contain the content of user files, and enabling a diagnostic setting after the deletion cannot rewind time to capture the lost data. Logs can help investigate who deleted the file, but they are not a backup source for restoring the file itself.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked how to collect and analyze VM performance metrics or application logs for troubleshooting, enabling diagnostic settings 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.
✓Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Azure Backup's file-level recovery lets you mount a chosen recovery point as a browsable drive without affecting the running VM. You can simply copy the deleted file back to its original location. This avoids a full virtual machine restore, minimizing downtime and preventing unnecessary overwrites of other changes, making it the precise, least-invasive solution.
✗Use the VM restore option and overwrite the entire VM.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The VM restore option overwrites the entire VM, which is not suitable for restoring a single file without affecting other data or the running state.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked for recovering a VM after a catastrophic failure where the entire VM is corrupted or unavailable, and the goal is to restore the full machine to a previous state.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that VM restore is the only way to recover data from a backup, not realizing that file-level restore is possible by mounting the recovery point.
✗Increase the VM size and redeploy the workload.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Increasing VM size and redeploying the workload does not restore a deleted file; it only changes the VM's hardware resources and re-deploys the application, which does not recover the deleted file from a backup.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked how to resolve performance issues due to insufficient resources (e.g., CPU or memory) and redeploy the workload to take advantage of the new size.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may mistakenly think that redeploying the workload after resizing the VM will restore the original state, confusing infrastructure changes with data recovery.
✗Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM and recover the file from logs.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Diagnostic settings capture performance and log data, not file-level restore points. They cannot be used to recover a specific deleted file from a VM.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked how to collect and analyze VM performance metrics or application logs for troubleshooting, enabling diagnostic settings would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse diagnostic logs with backup data, thinking logs contain file contents or can be used for file recovery.
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?”
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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.