AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question

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 entire virtual machine to the latest recovery point.

  Why it's wrong here

  Restoring the entire VM to its latest recovery point creates a new virtual machine from the snapshot or replaces the original, which would roll back the entire OS disk and all applications and files to a prior point in time. This is far more disruptive than necessary for a single deleted spreadsheet, as it could overwrite recent changes made by other users and require reassociation with virtual networks and other resources. Meanwhile, the running VM would need to be stopped, causing downtime, whereas file-level recovery can mount the recovery point without affecting the live VM.

  When this WOULD be correct

  When the question requires recovering a VM that has failed completely (e.g., OS corruption or hardware failure) and the goal is to restore the entire VM to its latest consistent state, accepting downtime.

• ✓

  Use File Recovery from the Recovery Services vault.

  Why this is correct

  File Recovery is designed for exactly this scenario: recovering one or more files or folders from a VM backup without restoring the whole virtual machine. The VM stays online, users can continue working, and the administrator mounts the recovery point to copy back only the missing spreadsheet. This minimizes downtime and avoids overwriting unrelated data on the VM.

• ✗

  Redeploy the VM from the original image.

  Why it's wrong here

  Redeploying a VM re-creates the underlying host infrastructure while retaining the OS disk and data disks, but it does not roll back the file system to a prior state; any file deleted after deployment will still be missing, and while the VM is redeployed it becomes unavailable, causing downtime. Moreover, redeploying relies on the original image or template, which does not contain post-deployment changes like the spreadsheet, so it cannot restore that specific file. It's a host-level operation, not a data-recovery operation.

  When this WOULD be correct

  If the question asked for recovering a VM that has become unresponsive due to underlying host issues, and the goal is to restore the VM to its original state without preserving any data changes, then redeploying from the original image would be correct.

• ✗

  Disable backup protection and then re-enable it.

  Why it's wrong here

  Disabling backup protection stops scheduled backups and may delete or retain existing recovery points depending on the configured backup retention policy; when re-enabled, the service only begins taking new backups from that point onward. This action does not trigger any restore operation or mount a recovery point, so the deleted spreadsheet remains unrecovered. It also creates a short window with no protection, increasing the risk of losing any changes made in that interval.

  When this WOULD be correct

  This option would be correct if the question asked to stop backing up a VM permanently and then start a fresh backup chain, for example, after changing the backup policy or moving the VM to a different vault.

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.

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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