CompTIA 220-1201 - CompTIA A+ Core 1 Exam (2026)

A PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch transmits both data and electrical power over Ethernet cables to devices like wireless access points or VoIP phones. This is especially useful in areas where separate power sources are not available.

Dedicated resources (sometimes called single-tenant or bare metal) guarantee that physical hardware is allocated exclusively to one customer and not shared.

From CompTIA A+ 220-1101 Official Study Guide, Objective 3.7 – Cloud deployment models:

“Dedicated resources ensure data isolation at the hardware level for compliance and security.”

Verified Source:

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Official Study Guide, Chapter 3: Cloud Deployment

CompTIA Exam Objectives 220-1101, Domain 3.7

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To provision and run multiple virtual machines on a physical server, the administrator must use a hypervisor. A hypervisor is the virtualization layer that creates, runs, and manages virtual machines by abstracting physical hardware resources such as CPU, RAM, storage, and network adapters into virtual resources presented to each VM. Once the server is configured with the required hardware support (such as sufficient RAM/CPU capacity and virtualization features enabled in firmware), the hypervisor is the component that enables VM creation, allocation of resources, virtual disk creation, and VM lifecycle actions like start, stop, suspend, snapshots, and virtual networking configuration.

Device Manager is used to view and manage hardware devices and drivers on an operating system, but it is not a VM provisioning tool. Disk Management can partition and format disks, which may support storage preparation, but it does not create or run VMs. A Virtual LAN is a network segmentation method at Layer 2 and may be used in VM networking designs, but it does not provide virtualization itself. Therefore, the correct tool for provisioning virtual machines is the hypervisor.

When troubleshooting intermittent latency to a remote internal resource, CompTIA A+ recommends using tools that help identify where latency occurs and whether it is consistent or fluctuating over time. The best tools for this scenario are ping -t and tracert.

Ping -t (B) sends continuous ICMP echo requests, allowing the technician to observe packet loss, fluctuating response times, or timeouts. This helps identify intermittent connectivity problems that occur at specific times, such as bandwidth congestion, routing instability, or wireless interference.

Tracert (F) maps each hop between the local workstation and the remote office. If latency spikes occur only after a particular hop—such as a VPN tunnel, MPLS gateway, or inter-office router—that device becomes the suspected bottleneck. This makes tracert essential for isolating WAN-related slowdowns.

Ipconfig /all (A) only provides local configuration and does not diagnose latency. Nslookup (C) is for DNS testing—not latency to a specific internal host. Examining switchports (D) helps with local issues but not remote latency. QoS (E) is a solution, not a troubleshooting step. Calling ISP (G) may be premature unless testing confirms ISP-related issues.

Thus, ping -t and tracert are the correct diagnostic tools.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) delivers a desktop operating system hosted on a centralized server and streams the graphical user interface (GUI) to endpoint devices such as thin clients, zero clients, or standard PCs. According to CompTIA Core 1 (220-1201) virtualization objectives, VDI allows users to access their desktop environments remotely while all processing and data remain on the server.

Option A accurately describes this model: a GUI streamed from a server to thin clients. This approach improves centralized management, enhances security, and simplifies endpoint hardware requirements.

Provisioning a sandbox is an example of test or development virtualization, not desktop virtualization. High-performance workstations with a local OS are physical desktops, not VDI. Launching a virtual machine server on a hypervisor describes server virtualization, not desktop delivery.

CompTIA highlights VDI as a common enterprise solution that separates the desktop environment from the physical device, enabling flexibility, scalability, and centralized control.

RAID 1 is known as mirroring. It duplicates all data to both drives simultaneously, providing redundancy in the event of a single drive failure. CompTIA A+ teaches that RAID 1 is ideal when reliability is the priority and only two drives are available exactly matching this scenario.

RAID 0 offers no redundancy. RAID 5 requires three or more drives. RAID 10 requires four or more drives.

Since the workstation has only two drives, RAID 1 is the only RAID configuration providing data protection and is heavily featured in CompTIA’s coverage of RAID technologies, their requirements, and their purposes in fault tolerance.

Inlaser printers, thefuser unitis responsible formelting the toner onto the paperusing heat and pressure. If the toner rubs off easily, it ' s a clear sign thefuser is failing or not heating properly. Replacing the fuser will ensure the toner bonds correctly to the paper.

Option B (Drum):Transfers the image, but doesn ' t fuse the toner.

Option C (Developer roller):Applies toner to the drum wouldn’t cause toner to rub off.

Option D (Discharge lamp):Prepares the drum for a new image; not related to toner adhesion.

CompTIA A+ Core 1 Exam Objective Reference:

Objective 3.7: Given a scenario, troubleshoot common printer problems.

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PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) is required for high-end video cards.

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) utilizes the M.2 or PCIe interface for the fastest SSD performance.

From CompTIA A+ 220-1101 Official Study Guide, Objective 3.2 – Motherboard expansion slots and storage interfaces:

“High-end video cards require a PCIe slot, while NVMe drives use M.2 (PCIe) slots for the highest data transfer rates.”

Verified Source:

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Official Study Guide, Chapter 3: Motherboard and Storage

CompTIA Exam Objectives 220-1101, Domain 3.2

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The most likely cause of slow charging after borrowing a charger is that the borrowed adapter is not the correct wattage or is not fully compatible with the laptop. Many laptops will still charge with an underpowered or non-matching adapter, but they often charge very slowly, may display a warning like “plugged in, not charging fast,” or may reduce performance to stay within the available power budget. In CompTIA A+ Core 1 troubleshooting, the first step is to check the simplest and most probable cause, especially when the symptom began immediately after a change. Using the proper manufacturer-recommended charger (correct voltage/amperage and connector type, or correct USB-C PD wattage profile if applicable) restores normal charging behavior in most cases.

Adjusting battery performance settings might reduce power draw but does not address the root cause of insufficient charger output. Trying a different charging port can help if a port is damaged, but the timing strongly points to the borrowed charger. Replacing the battery is the most invasive and least likely first step because the battery was presumably functioning before the charger change. Therefore, the technician should first use a different, known-good power supply with the correct specifications.

When a newly built computer successfully passes POST, it indicates that the CPU, RAM, motherboard, video output, and other essential components are functioning at a hardware level. POST will typically fail or display error codes if there are problems with the CPU, RAM, GPU, or power delivery. Therefore, the fact that POST succeeds allows us to eliminate those components from suspicion.

The issue arises after POST, when the system attempts to load an operating system. For the OS to load, the BIOS/UEFI must detect a working storage device—such as an HDD, SSD, or NVMe drive—containing a bootable OS. If the computer cannot locate or read the drive, the system will halt at a boot error, such as “No boot device found,” “Insert boot media,” or similar messages. This is consistent with a failed or improperly connected HDD.

A failed HDD prevents access to boot files, even though the rest of the system hardware functions normally. Audio cards are irrelevant to booting. A failed CPU would cause a POST failure, not an OS loading issue. A faulty power supply would affect system stability during POST, not specifically OS boot failure unless the system is not powering at all.

Thus, the failed component is the HDD.

Because the printer is a network printer and the issue occurs across multiple computers and different print jobs, the problem is very likely within the printer hardware/consumables, not the PC drivers or a single workstation configuration. Faint printing is a classic symptom of low or depleted toner (or an aging toner cartridge that is no longer distributing toner evenly). In CompTIA A+ troubleshooting methodology, you start with the most probable and simplest cause before performing deeper configuration changes or part-level adjustments. Replacing the toner cartridge is a straightforward first action that often resolves consistent faint output quickly and restores normal print density.

Reinstalling printer drivers would typically be indicated if only one computer had issues or if output problems changed based on driver settings; that is not the case here. Adjusting fuser temperature is not a normal first-line step for faint prints and is usually associated with toner not bonding properly (smearing or flaking), not consistently light output. Calibration can be useful for alignment or color/quality tuning, but it does not usually fix a persistent, uniform faintness caused by insufficient toner. Therefore, replace the toner cartridge first.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

PIN printing (also known as secure printing) ensures that documents are held in a queue until the authorized user enters a PIN directly at the printer. This prevents unauthorized viewing of confidential documents.

Gaming laptops prioritize speed, low latency, fast read/write times, and quick loading. CompTIA A+ explains that NVMe M.2 SSDs provide the fastest consumer storage available due to their use of the PCIe bus, which delivers significantly higher performance compared to SATA-based drives.

HDDs (Options A and C) are mechanical and have slow seek times, making them unsuitable for high-performance gaming. SAS SSDs (Option D) are enterprise-grade, rarely used in laptops, and require SAS controllers not found in consumer systems.

Thus, a 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD offers the best performance, fastest boot times, rapid texture loading, and optimal gaming responsiveness fully aligning with A+ hardware performance recommendations.

RAID 5 provides fault tolerance by distributing parity information across all drives, allowing the array to continue operating if one drive fails. In a three-drive RAID 5 set, a single disk failure puts the array into a degraded state where it can still function, but it is at higher risk because losing a second drive before recovery would cause data loss. Since the system reports Drive 3 has failed after a power outage, the best next step to minimize risk is to replace the failed drive immediately and start the rebuild. Rebuilding regenerates the missing data blocks onto the new drive using parity, returning the array to a protected state.

Option B leaves the array degraded and increases exposure to a second failure. Option C (firmware upgrade) is not a first response in an active failure scenario and can introduce additional risk or downtime. Option D (restore from backup) is typically used when the array is unrecoverable or multiple drives fail; it is more disruptive and unnecessary when RAID 5 can recover from a single-disk failure. Therefore, replacing the defective drive and triggering an array rebuild is the correct next step.