AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
Exhibit
Recovery Services vault > Backup item: vm-web02 Available recovery points: 5 Current VM status: Running Issue reported: OS disk corruption after patching Requirement: repair the VM without rebuilding networking or re-registering the VM
Based on the exhibit, the OS disk on a production VM is corrupted, but the VM must stay in place and keep its NIC and data disks. Which restore option should you choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse Azure Monitor with Azure Backup or Site Recovery, assuming monitoring can perform recovery actions, when in fact only backup-based disk restoration can repair a corrupted OS disk while keeping the VM in place.
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
✓
Restore the disk, then attach or swap it as needed to repair the existing VM.
When an OS disk is corrupted, you can restore just the disk from a recovery point and then either attach it as a data disk to the existing VM or swap the OS disk. This approach preserves the VM's NIC, data disks, and IP configuration, meeting the requirement to keep the VM in place.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Restore the VM as a new virtual machine and delete the existing one immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Restoring the VM as a new virtual machine and immediately deleting the existing one is an unnecessarily destructive and high-risk recovery path. The question specifically asks to repair the existing VM, not to replace it; a full VM restore creates a new VM with a new VM ID, breaks any role assignments or managed identities tied to the original, and forces you to reconfigure networking, private IPs, and any dependent resources. Deleting the original before validating the restored VM also removes your last known-good state, turning a single-disk recovery into a full redeployment with potential downtime and configuration drift.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question required replacing the VM entirely (e.g., due to severe corruption) and the new VM could be configured with the same NIC and data disks, or if the original VM's resources were to be released immediately after restoration.
- ✓
Restore the disk, then attach or swap it as needed to repair the existing VM.
Why this is correct
When the VM still exists but one disk is corrupted, restoring the disk is the correct approach. It lets you recover the damaged OS disk from a backup point and then attach or swap it without rebuilding the VM identity, NIC, or data disk layout. This is a common recovery pattern for targeted repair.
- ✗
Use Azure Monitor to roll back the last deployment automatically.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Monitor is a telemetry and alerting service: it collects metrics, logs, and activity data from resources and can trigger actions via alerts or automation runbooks, but it has no capability to restore virtual hard disks or roll back VM deployments. Disk recovery requires a backup artifact from Azure Backup (Recovery Services vault) and a restore operation, not a monitoring alert action. Even if an alert triggers an automation runbook, that runbook would need to explicitly perform the restore using Azure Backup APIs, so saying Azure Monitor itself rolls back the deployment is factually incorrect.
When this WOULD be correct
If a VM deployment fails due to a configuration error and you need to revert to the last successful deployment state, you could use Azure Monitor to trigger a rollback via Azure Automation or a runbook, but this is not a standard restore operation.
- ✗
Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM so the OS disk will be repaired.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling a diagnostic setting on the VM only configures the export of platform logs and metrics to a Log Analytics workspace, storage account, or Event Hub. Diagnostic settings are for observability—they do not perform any write operations on the OS disk and absolutely cannot repair corrupted file systems or recover lost data. OS disk corruption must be addressed by restoring from a backup, using Azure Site Recovery for replication, or recreating the disk, never by toggling diagnostic telemetry.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked: 'You need to collect boot diagnostics logs to troubleshoot why a VM is not starting. Which action should you take?'
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.
✓Restore the disk, then attach or swap it as needed to repair the existing VM.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
When the VM still exists but one disk is corrupted, restoring the disk is the correct approach. It lets you recover the damaged OS disk from a backup point and then attach or swap it without rebuilding the VM identity, NIC, or data disk layout. This is a common recovery pattern for targeted repair.
✗Restore the VM as a new virtual machine and delete the existing one immediately.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Restoring the VM as a new virtual machine and deleting the existing one would change the VM's identity, NIC, and data disk attachments, violating the requirement to keep the VM in place with its NIC and data disks.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question required replacing the VM entirely (e.g., due to severe corruption) and the new VM could be configured with the same NIC and data disks, or if the original VM's resources were to be released immediately after restoration.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that creating a new VM from a restore point is the only way to recover, overlooking the ability to restore just the disk and swap it into the existing VM.
✗Use Azure Monitor to roll back the last deployment automatically.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Azure Monitor is a monitoring and diagnostics service, not a backup or restore tool. It cannot roll back deployments or repair corrupted OS disks.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If a VM deployment fails due to a configuration error and you need to revert to the last successful deployment state, you could use Azure Monitor to trigger a rollback via Azure Automation or a runbook, but this is not a standard restore operation.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Azure Monitor's diagnostic and alerting capabilities with recovery features, or think it can automatically fix issues like a corrupted disk.
✗Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM so the OS disk will be repaired.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Enabling a diagnostic setting on the VM does not repair a corrupted OS disk; it only collects logs and metrics. It cannot restore or fix disk corruption.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked: 'You need to collect boot diagnostics logs to troubleshoot why a VM is not starting. Which action should you take?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse diagnostic settings with repair capabilities, thinking that enabling diagnostics can automatically fix disk issues.
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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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.