SkillTestPro | CompTIA A+ Core 2 Practice Test

CompTIA A+ Core 2 Practice Test 2

CompTIA A+ Practice Test

1 / 80

A company wants to ensure that users are only able to install approved applications. What feature should they use?

File Explorer

Notepad

Group Policy

Windows Media Player

Disk Cleanup

2 / 80

A technician suspects that a system has a malware infection. What is the first step they should take?

Disconnect the system from the network

Format the hard drive

Disable Windows Update

Install a new hard drive

Change the display resolution

3 / 80

Which tool allows a technician to configure system startup settings and troubleshoot boot-related issues?

Task Manager

Windows Update

msconfig

Notepad

Event Viewer

4 / 80

A user reports that their system is running out of storage space. What tool can help free up space?

Disk Cleanup

Notepad

Windows Defender

Task Manager

System Restore

5 / 80

A technician needs to check if a driver is causing a hardware issue. What tool should they use?

Task Manager

File Explorer

Windows Defender

System Restore

Device Manager

6 / 80

A user reports that their laptop screen goes black randomly, but the system remains powered on. What should the technician check first?

Power settings

Printer queue

Speaker volume

Windows Firewall settings

System Restore

7 / 80

A technician wants to ensure that all computers in an organization receive security patches regularly. What tool should they use?

Task Manager

File Explorer

Device Manager

Windows Update

Notepad

8 / 80

Which feature in Windows helps users restore a previous version of a file that was accidentally deleted or modified?

Task Scheduler

File History

Windows Defender

Device Manager

Windows Update

9 / 80

A user reports slow performance and frequent application crashes. Task Manager shows 95% memory usage. What is the most likely cause?

Insufficient RAM

Weak power supply

Corrupt BIOS firmware

Outdated printer driver

Too many browser extensions

10 / 80

A technician needs to check for system errors and crashes. Which tool should they use?

Task Manager

Device Manager

Event Viewer

Disk Cleanup

File Explorer

11 / 80

A user is unable to open certain websites but can access others. What is the most likely cause?

Full hard drive

Weak Wi-Fi signal

Incorrect DNS settings

Outdated keyboard driver

Windows Defender is disabled

12 / 80

Which Windows utility allows a technician to manage startup applications?

Task Manager

Device Manager

Windows Update

Event Viewer

Disk Cleanup

13 / 80

A user reports that after installing a software update, their application crashes frequently. What should the technician do first?

Reinstall Windows

Restore the system to a previous restore point

Delete all temporary files

Disable Windows Firewall

Run a full virus scan

14 / 80

A technician needs to prevent unauthorized access to a lost or stolen laptop. What should they enable?

Windows Defender

Guest Account

File History

BitLocker

System Restore

15 / 80

A user complains that their laptop frequently overheats and shuts down. What is the most likely cause?

Failing hard drive

Excessive dust buildup in cooling vents

Outdated graphics driver

Low battery health

Corrupt BIOS settings

16 / 80

A company requires all employees to use multifactor authentication (MFA) when logging into company systems. What is an example of MFA?

Entering a username and password

Typing a password twice

Logging in with a single sign-on (SSO) service

Using a fingerprint scan and password

Changing a password every 90 days

17 / 80

A technician needs to migrate user data from an old Windows 10 PC to a new one. What tool should they use?

Disk Cleanup

File History

Windows Defender

Event Viewer

Task Manager

18 / 80

A user reports that they forgot their Windows login password. Which method would allow them to reset it?

BIOS reset

Safe Mode with Networking

Windows password reset disk

Uninstalling recent Windows updates

Running a malware scan

19 / 80

A technician is configuring Windows Firewall for a company network. What is the primary function of the firewall?

Managing software updates

Preventing phishing attacks

Encrypting data stored on the drive

Blocking unauthorized inbound and outbound traffic

Increasing system performance

20 / 80

A user reports that their laptop is displaying a "No Boot Device Found" error after a recent Windows update. What is the most likely cause?

Corrupt Windows installation

Disconnected or failed hard drive

Overheating CPU

Faulty graphics driver

Insufficient RAM

21 / 80

A technician is troubleshooting a Linux system where a service fails to start due to a missing dependency. The systemctl status command shows "dependency failed." Given a scenario involving Linux service management, what is the best next step?

Restart the failed service using systemctl restart.

Reinstall the service package using apt or yum.

Clear the systemd journal with journalctl --flush.

Modify the service file to ignore the dependency.

Check systemctl dependencies with systemctl list-dependencies.

22 / 80

An administrator needs to configure a Windows Server 2022 system to allow Remote Desktop access only for a specific security group. Given a scenario involving securing Windows systems, what is the best method?

Modify the Remote Desktop Users group in Computer Management.

Configure Windows Firewall to allow RDP only for group members.

Edit Group Policy to restrict RDP access to the security group.

Use PowerShell to set RDP permissions for the group.

Update the registry to limit RDP to the security group.

23 / 80

A Windows 11 system displays a "low disk space" warning despite having sufficient free space on the C: drive. Given a scenario involving Windows troubleshooting, what is the most likely cause and resolution?

System Reserved partition full; extend it using diskpart.

Temporary files accumulation; clean them with Disk Cleanup.

Hidden recovery partition full; delete old recovery images.

Incorrect disk quota settings; adjust quotas in Properties.

Corrupted filesystem; run chkdsk /f to repair errors.

24 / 80

A technician is troubleshooting a Linux system where a user cannot execute a script despite having read and write permissions. Given a scenario involving Linux permissions, what is the most likely cause and resolution?

Missing execute permission; add it using chmod +x script.sh.

SELinux denying execution; set the correct context with chcon.

Incorrect shebang line; update the script to use #!/bin/bash.

Filesystem mounted as noexec; remount with exec option.

User not in sudoers; add user to sudoers for script execution.

25 / 80

A macOS system user cannot access an application due to Gatekeeper restrictions after downloading it from an unverified developer. Given a scenario involving macOS security, what is the most secure way to allow the application to run?

Use spctl --add to whitelist the application in Gatekeeper.

Disable Gatekeeper temporarily using sudo spctl --master-disable.

Open the application via Terminal with the xattr -d command.

Modify System Preferences to allow the app under Security & Privacy.

Re-download the application from the Mac App Store.

26 / 80

A user reports that a Windows 10 system cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network after a recent update. The network adapter shows "No Internet, Secured." Given a scenario involving troubleshooting connectivity, what is the most likely cause and resolution?

DHCP failure; release and renew the IP address using ipconfig.

Incorrect DNS settings; configure Google DNS (8.8.8.8) manually.

Windows Firewall blocking; create an exception for Wi-Fi connections.

Outdated Wi-Fi driver; update the driver via Device Manager.

Corrupted network stack; reset it using netsh winsock reset.

27 / 80

A Linux administrator needs to schedule a recurring task to back up /var/log to a remote server every midnight. Given a scenario involving Linux administration, which tool and method are most appropriate?

Use cron to schedule an rsync command to the remote server.

Configure systemd timer to run a tar backup script.

Set up anacron to copy logs using scp daily.

Use at to schedule a nightly cp command to the remote server.

Create a bash script with rclone and schedule it via crontab.

28 / 80

A Windows Server 2022 system experiences slow performance due to high disk I/O. Task Manager shows svchost.exe consuming significant resources. Given a scenario involving Windows troubleshooting, what is the best next step?

Restart the Server service to reset svchost.exe processes.

Run sfc /scannow to check for corrupted system files.

Use Resource Monitor to identify the specific service causing high I/O.

Increase virtual memory allocation to reduce disk I/O.

Disable Windows Update to prevent svchost.exe activity.

29 / 80

A technician needs to configure a dual-boot system with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 24.04 on a UEFI-based machine. Given a scenario involving OS installation and setup, what is the critical step to ensure both OSes boot correctly?

Install Ubuntu first, then Windows, and configure GRUB to manage both.

Install Windows first, then Ubuntu, and let GRUB configure the boot order.

Create separate EFI partitions for each OS during installation.

Disable Secure Boot in UEFI to allow GRUB to load Ubuntu.

Use bcdedit to add Ubuntu to the Windows Boot Manager.

30 / 80

A macOS Monterey system fails to install a critical security update, citing insufficient disk space. Given a scenario involving macOS troubleshooting, what is the best approach to resolve this while preserving user data?

Use Disk Utility to resize the APFS container and free space.

Run sudo purge to clear cached files and retry the update.v

Boot into Recovery Mode and reinstall macOS without formatting.

Delete Time Machine snapshots using tmutil to reclaim space.

Offload user files to iCloud and remove them locally.

31 / 80

A user reports that a Windows 11 system cannot access a shared folder on a Linux server using SMB. The error indicates "access denied." Given a scenario involving troubleshooting network shares, what is the most likely cause and resolution?

SMBv1 disabled on the server; enable SMBv2 or higher on the Linux server.

Missing NTFS permissions; apply correct share permissions on the Linux server.

Firewall blocking SMB ports; open ports 445 and 139 on the client.

Incompatible Samba configuration; reconfigure smb.conf with guest access.

Incorrect SMB credentials; verify and update credentials in Windows Credential Manager.

32 / 80

A technician is tasked with enabling BitLocker on a Windows 10 Pro system without a TPM chip. Given a scenario involving securing operating systems, what is the most secure method to enable BitLocker?

Configure BitLocker with a startup key on a USB drive.

Enable BitLocker using a password without TPM.

Install a TPM module to support BitLocker encryption.

Use EFS instead of BitLocker for non-TPM systems.

Modify Group Policy to bypass TPM requirements and use a PIN.

33 / 80

A Linux server running CentOS 9 Stream experiences high CPU usage due to a runaway process. Given a scenario involving Linux troubleshooting, which command provides the most detailed real-time information to identify and terminate the process?

Use top to monitor processes and press k to kill the process.

Execute htop to view processes and select the process to terminate.

Run ps aux | grep to locate the process and use kill -9.

Use system-monitor to analyze and stop the process.

Run lsof to find the process and terminate it with pkill.

34 / 80

An administrator needs to automate a backup process on a macOS Ventura system using Time Machine to an NFS share. Given a scenario involving macOS configurations, what is the correct approach to ensure compatibility?

Mount the NFS share and select it directly in Time Machine preferences.

Convert the NFS share to AFP for native Time Machine support.

Use rsync instead of Time Machine for NFS compatibility.

Configure Time Machine to use the NFS share via a custom sparsebundle.

Enable SMB on the NFS server and configure Time Machine to use it.

35 / 80

A Windows 11 system fails to boot after a driver update, displaying a BSOD with a "CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED" error. Given a scenario involving troubleshooting operating systems, what is the best initial step to resolve this?

Run Startup Repair from the Windows Recovery Environment.

Rebuild the BCD using bcdedit in the Command Prompt.

Perform a System Restore to a point before the update.

Reset the PC while keeping files intact.

Boot into Safe Mode and roll back the driver using Device Manager.

36 / 80

A technician is configuring a Linux workstation with Ubuntu 24.04 to restrict SSH access to a specific user group. Given a scenario involving securing Linux-based operating systems, what is the most secure and efficient method to achieve this?

Modify /etc/ssh/sshd_config with AllowGroups directive; restart the SSH service.

Edit /etc/passwd to restrict SSH users; reload the user database.

Use iptables to filter SSH by user group; save the firewall rules.

Configure PAM to restrict SSH logins; update /etc/security/access.conf.

Set up a cron job to monitor and kill unauthorized SSH sessions.

37 / 80

A user reports that a Windows 10 system fails to apply Group Policy Objects (GPOs) after a recent domain join. The gpresult /r command shows no policies applied. Given a scenario involving configuring and securing operating systems, what is the most likely cause and resolution?

GPO inheritance blocked; resolve by enforcing the GPO at the domain level.

Missing RSOP data; resolve by running gpupdate /force to refresh policies.

Incorrect DNS configuration; resolve by setting the domain controller as the primary DNS server.

User account permissions issue; resolve by adding the user to the Domain Admins group.

Firewall blocking SMB; resolve by enabling File and Printer Sharing rules.

38 / 80

A company is deploying Windows 11 Enterprise via zero-touch deployment in a hybrid environment with legacy hardware. The process fails on some machines due to boot method incompatibilities. Given a scenario involving diverse OS installations, what is the most probable cause and resolution?

Missing TPM 2.0; resolve by using a repair installation with bypassed checks.

Incompatible partition scheme; resolve by converting MBR to GPT via diskpart.

Network boot PXE failure; resolve by fallback to external hot-swappable drives.

Hardware compatibility list omission; resolve by updating the deployment image.

Legacy BIOS mode conflicts; resolve by enabling UEFI in firmware settings.

39 / 80

During a system audit, an IT administrator notices that a Linux server using XFS for its primary filesystem experiences performance degradation under heavy write loads compared to ext4. Given various filesystem types and their purposes, what advanced feature of XFS might be contributing to this, and how could it be mitigated?

XFS's journaling overhead; mitigate by switching to ReFS for better redundancy.

XFS's lack of snapshots; mitigate by implementing Btrfs for volume management.

XFS's metadata checksums; mitigate by disabling them via mkfs.xfs options.

XFS's allocation group structure; mitigate by optimizing with larger stripe sizes.

XFS's extent-based allocation; mitigate by defragmenting regularly with xfs_fsr.

40 / 80

A technician is troubleshooting a workstation that fails to mount an external drive formatted with APFS after connecting to a Windows 11 Pro system. The drive was previously used on a macOS device. Considering filesystem compatibility concerns between operating systems, what is the most likely reason for this issue?

Windows natively supports APFS but only in read-only mode without updates.

APFS requires a third-party driver on Windows for read/write access.

APFS is incompatible with Windows due to vendor life-cycle limitations on cross-OS support.

The drive's APFS partition uses encryption that conflicts with Windows NTFS drivers.

Windows requires reformatting APFS to exFAT for interoperability with macOS filesystems.

41 / 80

A Linux machine shows:
“Permission denied (publickey).”
What is the likely cause?

Wrong SSH port

Incorrect private key permissions

SELinux blocking SSH

DNS failure

Duplicate SSH keys

42 / 80

A user’s mobile device has extremely slow Wi-Fi only on corporate networks. Other devices work fine. What is the likely cause?

MAC filtering

Captive portal loop

VPN always-on policy

Wi-Fi 6 incompatibility

DNSSEC failure

43 / 80

A laptop repeatedly prompts:
“Your credentials could not be verified.”
Domain password is correct. What is most likely wrong?

Local time skew

BIOS password mismatch

Kerberos disabled

NTFS permissions incorrect

SMB signing disabled

44 / 80

A user deleted files and emptied the Recycle Bin. What recovery method offers the highest chance of success?

Windows File History

System Restore

PowerShell recovery

Third-party file carving software

Windows Reset

45 / 80

A Windows PC fails to join a domain and shows:
“The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.”
What should the technician check first?

DNS server settings

SMB ports

IPv6 status

Account lockout

Default gateway

46 / 80

A technician needs to ensure a Linux service starts automatically on boot. What command should they use?

service enable

chkconfig on

sysconfig autostart

systemctl enable

initctl start

47 / 80

A Windows user complains that apps keep reinstalling themselves after uninstalling them. What is most likely enabled?

Administrator approval mode

Group Policy enforcing installations

Mandatory profile

Corrupt user registry hive

Windows Update app reinstalls

48 / 80

A technician suspects a rogue DHCP server on a network. Which tool confirms this?

Task Manager

ipconfig /flushdns

nmap or Wireshark

tracert

arp -a

49 / 80

A Linux user wants to schedule a script that runs every 10 minutes. What should they use?

systemd timers

cron job

at command

nohup

crontab -r

50 / 80

A user’s laptop boots extremely slowly after an update. Task Manager shows 99% disk usage from “Service Host: SysMain.” What should the technician do?

Disable SysMain

Increase RAM

Disable Windows Search

Rebuild Search Index

Reset virtual memory

51 / 80

A Windows PC issues error “BOOTMGR is missing.” What is the best repair approach?

Reset Windows

Replace the BIOS battery

Run CHKDSK /R

Run bootrec commands

Install a new hard drive

52 / 80

A technician deploys a Windows image, but new users complain default apps and settings are missing. Which file must be configured?

unattend.xml

setup.cfg

defaultuser0.temp

custom.xml

sysprep.inf

53 / 80

A user cannot access shared folders on a Windows domain PC, but they can ping the server. What should the technician check?

Port 80

DHCP lease expiration

DNS TXT records

Host file entries

SMB service and firewall rules

54 / 80

A Linux workstation fails to boot and displays:
“Kernel panic: unable to mount root filesystem.”
What should the technician check?

EFI boot order

Hostname resolution

/etc/fstab for incorrect UUID

AppArmor logs

UEFI Secure Boot keys

55 / 80

A user’s macOS system constantly prompts for the keychain password after login. What is the most likely cause?

VPN certificate expiration

Keychain password doesn't match login password

FileVault is disabled

iCloud sync conflict

Spotlight reindexing

56 / 80

A company has standardized on BitLocker with TPM+PIN. One laptop cannot boot after a motherboard replacement. What is the likely cause?

Corrupted MBR

Incorrect BIOS time

Secure Boot disabled

Incorrect SATA mode

TPM mismatch

57 / 80

A user installed a program that replaced several file associations. Now PDFs open in the wrong app. What is the fastest fix?

Change default apps by file type

Rebuild Windows search index

Run System Restore

Modify registry keys

Reinstall Adobe Reader

58 / 80

A technician suspects a Windows driver is causing random BSODs after a peripheral installation. What should the technician use?

Performance Monitor

System Information

Device Manager > Roll Back Driver

Driver Verifier

Event Viewer > Security logs

59 / 80

A user cannot log in because their domain password expired while traveling offline for two weeks. What should the technician do?

Rejoin the domain

Reset the BIOS clock

Change username in Credential Manager

Connect to VPN and log in with cached credentials

Run gpupdate /force

60 / 80

A Windows 11 laptop is unable to complete updates. The user receives error 0x80070570 indicating corrupted update files. What should the technician do first?

Delete temporary files from Disk Cleanup

Run DISM and SFC scans

Reset the BIOS to defaults

Disable the TPM in BIOS

Reinstall the network adapter driver

61 / 80

A user’s Windows PC refuses to install applications and displays:
“The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation.”
What should the technician modify?

BIOS supervisor password

Local Group Policy > Software Restriction Policies

NTFS modify rights

Windows Update channel

UAC slider

62 / 80

A Linux server won’t accept SSH logins for root even though the password is correct. What should be checked?

SELinux enforcing

System clock

PAM policies

Kernel module signature

sshd_config PermitRootLogin

63 / 80

A Windows system shows:
“This copy of Windows is not genuine.”
What is the likely cause?

Missing TPM

Invalid product key

Corrupted user profile

Outdated drivers

Incorrect time zone

64 / 80

A user is repeatedly locked out of their domain account every morning. What is the likely cause?

Time synchronization issue

DNS replication error

Duplicate SAM ID

Mapped drive using old password

Password complexity failure

65 / 80

A Windows system’s encrypted files are unreadable after profile corruption. What is the required item to restore access?

TPM recovery key

EFS certificate/private key

BitLocker recovery key

NTFS journal

Synchronization token

66 / 80

A Linux admin needs to check which services are listening on network ports. Which command?

systemctl list

netstat -tulnp

traceroute

ifconfig -p

ssidctl show

67 / 80

A Windows computer randomly wakes from sleep. Which command diagnoses wake triggers?

powercfg /lastwake

wmic bios get wakeevents

eventvwr /s

powercfg /devicequery

msinfo32 /power

68 / 80

A user cannot reach HTTPS websites but HTTP works normally. What is the root cause?

Port 443 blocked

SSL certificate corrupted

Proxy misconfigured

Incorrect hosts file

Antivirus firewall disabled

69 / 80

A user reports continuous redirects in their browser and new toolbars appearing. Antivirus shows no issues. What is most likely installed?

Rootkit

Worm

Backdoor

Boot-sector virus

Hijacker/PUP

70 / 80

A business requires users to authenticate to Microsoft 365 using fingerprints or FIDO keys. What feature must be implemented?

Credential Guard

Azure AD Conditional Access

Local Security Policy

Kerberos delegation

AppLocker

71 / 80

A system has a corrupted registry preventing it from booting. What is the best tool?

Startup Repair

System Restore

registry.repair utility

DISM /Online

Boot logging

72 / 80

A technician must verify if a Windows machine is receiving repeated failed logins from unknown IPs. Which log should they inspect?

Application

Setup

Security

Forwarded Events

MDM logs

73 / 80

A user's Windows system won’t activate after a motherboard replacement. Why?

Retail keys can't transfer

Product key blacklisted

Hardware signature changed

TPM mismatch

Fast Boot enabled

74 / 80

A Linux user wants to view real-time CPU, RAM, and process usage from the command line. Which tool should they use?

ps aux

journalctl

vmstat

sar

top or htop

75 / 80

A mobile device enrolled in MDM cannot access gmail.com, but all corporate apps work. Why?

CAPTIVE portal

Web content filter policy

VPN tunnel blocking Google

Incorrect DNS suffix

Browser cache corruption

76 / 80

A technician wants to prevent users from installing software without blocking Windows Updates. What should they use?

UAC Always Notify

Secure Boot

TPM policies

Credential Guard

AppLocker

77 / 80

A user experiences freezing on startup. Event Viewer shows “disk controller failure.” What should the technician check?

UEFI secure boot

SATA cable and port

Firewall RDP rules

BitLocker PIN

GPU driver

78 / 80

A Windows 11 system can’t run older software required for business. What is the best solution?

Compatibility mode

Install Windows Sandbox

Enable Hyper-V and run a VM

Roll back Windows

Use Wine

79 / 80

A user cannot print to a network printer and gets “Access Denied.” What should be checked?

TCP port 515

Printer delegation

NTFS permissions

Shared printer permissions

Print spooler memory

80 / 80

A technician needs to disable a startup application for ALL users on a Windows machine. Which tool should they use?

Task Manager > Startup

MSCONFIG

Startup folder in AppData

Group Policy

Task Scheduler

Your score is

The average score is 69%

Boost your CompTIA A+ 220-1202 Core 2 exam prep with our free CompTIA A+ Core 2 practice test, designed for 2025. Explore critical topics like operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and operational procedures to ensure exam readiness. Perfect for IT professionals pursuing certification, this test is updated to match the latest 2025 exam objectives, equipping you with the skills needed for technical support and IT roles. Access instant online score reports to track your progress and identify areas for improvement. Kickstart your practice today and take a confident step toward achieving your CompTIA A+ certification!

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