CompTIA A+ Practice Test (220-1201)

Using a hosted (type-2) desktop hypervisor such as Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Workstation Player on each Windows 11 laptop lets users create a self-contained Windows XP virtual machine. The VM emulates the full PC hardware stack, so the legacy 32-bit application installs and runs unmodified. The VM's network adapter can be set to Host-Only (or NAT with no port-forwarding), keeping the guest isolated from the production LAN while still permitting controlled file copies through shared folders or drag-and-drop, which satisfies the security policy.

Containers share the host's Windows 11 kernel, so they cannot boot a Windows XP kernel. Windows compatibility mode merely shims APIs and cannot overcome missing 16-bit subsystems on 64-bit Windows. Subscribing to a SaaS edition would replace, not preserve, the existing application and assumes such a service exists, so it does not meet the stated requirement.

Because a RAID 5 volume can tolerate the loss of a single member, the safest first step is to hot-swap the drive that is reporting S.M.A.R.T. imminent failure with an identical replacement. The controller will rebuild parity on the new disk while the array stays online. Clearing the error counters leaves a failing disk in service and risks data loss; replacing all drives and restoring from backup causes unnecessary downtime; converting to RAID 10 does not remove the failing disk and also requires additional hardware.

M.2 SSDs plug into a dedicated M.2 slot on the motherboard. The edge connector carries both data and power, so no separate SATA data or power cables are required. Rotational speed (RPM) applies only to mechanical hard drives, and M.2 devices are not optical drives.

Lower-frequency signals travel farther and penetrate solid obstacles more effectively than higher-frequency signals because they experience less free-space path loss and better diffraction. The 2.4 GHz band therefore offers the best range and wall penetration, making it the logical choice when coverage is the primary goal. The 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands provide higher data rates but their shorter wavelengths attenuate more quickly and are blocked more easily by shelves and concrete. A 60 GHz millimeter-wave band would have even poorer range indoors and is not part of standard Wi-Fi deployments for warehouse coverage.

Shared resources (also known as resource pooling) is a characteristic of cloud services where the same pool of resources are shared among various clients of a cloud service provider based on client demand. This can be a security concern to the possibility of unauthorized data access.

Unencrypted Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) sessions use TCP port 25. Enabling that port allows the application to open an SMTP session with the mail gateway and submit messages for relay.

• TCP 110 and TCP 143 are used by POP3 and IMAP, protocols that clients use to retrieve mail, not to send it.
• TCP 443 is used for HTTPS, which secures web traffic and is unrelated to standard SMTP relay. Allowing any of those ports would not let the application transmit outgoing mail through the SMTP gateway.

A DB9 (also called DE9) connector is a type of connection commonly used in serial ports. It is used in many applications including video output, network ports and communication ports such as for printer connections.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) provides an encrypted tunnel to connect to networks. It can be used to securely connect from a home office to a corporate network or as an additional layer of security when using public wireless networks (e.g. the free WiFi at a coffee shop).

Jitter refers to the variability in time between data packets arriving, caused by network congestion, timing drift, or route changes. High levels of jitter can lead to packets being out of sequence, resulting in poor audio and video quality in streaming and VoIP applications. Understanding jitter is essential for network troubleshooting because it can severely affect the user experience and consistent data flow, which are critical in real-time communications.

The correct answer is DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), since it is the role a server takes to dynamically distribute network configuration parameters, such as IP addresses, for interfaces and services. With DHCP, client machines can “lease” an IP address for a certain period of time. DNS (Domain Name System) serves as the phonebook for the internet, translating domain names to IP addresses, not dynamically assigning them. Syslog is used for logging and monitoring network devices, not for assigning IP addresses. A fileshare server is used for storing and sharing files, not assigning IP addresses.

Domain Name System (DNS) servers answer recursive and iterative queries to translate fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) such as www.example.com into the numerical IP addresses computers use. DNS uses both UDP (most lookups) and TCP (zone transfers or responses that exceed UDP size) on port 53.

DHCP (ports 67/68) automatically leases IP addresses but does not perform hostname lookups. LDAP (port 389) is a directory access protocol. SNMP (ports 161/162) is used for network monitoring and management.

Lithium-ion batteries permanently lose capacity with each charge cycle because of chemical aging. Once capacity falls well below 80 % of design specifications, no amount of calibration, BIOS updates, or power-saving settings will restore the lost watt-hours. Replacing the depleted pack with a new manufacturer-approved battery is therefore the only effective fix. Other options (battery calibration, BIOS firmware updates, or relying on an external USB power bank) may offer minor improvements or convenience but do not restore the laptop's internal runtime.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panels that employ CCFL backlighting contain a small fluorescent tube running along one edge or behind the panel. The lamp's ultraviolet discharge excites phosphors inside the tube, producing white light that passes through the liquid-crystal matrix to form an image. LED-backlit screens still use an LCD panel but replace the fluorescent tube with light-emitting diodes, improving efficiency and thickness. Plasma displays create light within each pixel via ionized gas cells and do not require a separate backlight, while OLED pixels are self-emissive and likewise need no external lamp.

Rapid elasticity is the characteristic of cloud computing that enables services to automatically scale resources up or down, depending on current demand. It ensures that the computing environment can adapt quickly to workload changes. The other options are attributes of cloud computing, but they do not directly refer to the ability to scale resources automatically to meet demand. High availability refers to systems that are continuously operational for a long duration, while shared resources refer to the pooling of resources to serve multiple consumers. Metered utilization pertains to the measurement of resource usage for billing or monitoring purposes.

DisplayPort supports the ability to daisy chain multiple monitors through a feature known as Multi-Stream Transport (MST). This allows a series of displays to be connected in sequence with just one cable from the source. DVI and HDMI do not natively support daisy chaining. VGA does not support daisy chaining, as it is an older analog standard.

LCD panels (including IPS, TN, and VA variants) are transmissive; their liquid crystals merely modulate light passing through them and do not generate light. A dedicated back-light unit (LED or CCFL) provides the illumination, so if the backlight fails, the screen appears dark.

OLED, plasma, and MicroLED displays are emissive technologies whose pixels produce their own light and therefore do not need an independent backlight.
References: Liquid-crystal displays require a backlight ; OLED panels are self-luminous and have "no backlight" .

In the case of multiple prints pending in the queue, it is frequently effective to clear the print queue to remove any stuck or corrupt print jobs that could be causing subsequent jobs to fail. By stopping the Print Spooler service, deleting the temporary spool files, and then restarting the service, a technician can often resolve these kinds of issues. Simply restarting the device or resending the print jobs, without clearing the existing queue, often does not resolve the issue.

Type 2 hypervisors rely on a fully featured host operating system. If that OS contains unpatched vulnerabilities, every virtual machine running on top of it can be compromised, regardless of the guest settings. Therefore, keeping the host OS and the hypervisor application fully patched is the most critical first step in hardening a desktop-class virtualization platform.

• Taking snapshots protects data but does not shrink the attack surface.
• Placing each VM on its own VLAN improves network segmentation but does not remove exploitable code from the host.
• Enabling nested paging (SLAT/IOMMU) can enhance performance or device pass-through, yet it does not mitigate software vulnerabilities.

The Lightning plug is designed so that the eight pins are duplicated on both sides, allowing it to be inserted into the port with either side facing up. Older micro-USB plugs are keyed and work only in one orientation. Lightning does not use fiber-optic conductors, does not rely on a keyed notch for alignment, and it has 8 pins-not 24-for Thunderbolt video output.

A primary advantage of using VDI in the cloud is its scalability. Cloud environments offer rapid elasticity, allowing resources to be scaled up or down as needed, which is often more difficult and expensive to achieve with on-premises infrastructure. Reduced hardware maintenance is another benefit, but it is not as critical as the scalability aspect. While cost savings and security improvements are possible, they depend on the specific implementation and are not guaranteed.