Free CompTIA Network+ N10-008 Practice Question

The network administrator should first check the default gateway configuration as it is vital for network communication with external resources. If the gateway is incorrectly configured on the user's device or within the VLAN configuration, the device will fail to communicate with external networks while still being able to access local resources. Checking the IP address and subnet mask is also important, but without the correct default gateway, the issue would specifically prevent external communications, which aligns with the scenario described. Incorrect DNS settings primarily affect name resolution and would not typically prevent all external communications, hence it is less likely to be the root cause in this case. A missing route would be more relevant if specific external resources could not be reached rather than all external resources.