220-1101 Question 123
Single answerVirtual private network (VPN)A support technician is troubleshooting a remote employee's laptop. The user can browse public websites from home without issue, but cannot open internal company file shares or an intranet site. The company requires remote users to connect through a VPN before accessing internal resources. The user says the VPN client shows "Disconnected." Which action should the technician take FIRST to restore access to the internal resources?
- A
Have the user connect to the corporate VPN using the approved VPN client and verify the connection status changes to connected
- B
Change the laptop's local IP address to match the company office subnet
- C
Disable the Windows Defender Firewall so the file shares will become reachable
- D
Replace the user's home router because public internet access and internal company access use different ISP paths
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This question tests practical troubleshooting of remote access. When a user can reach public internet resources but cannot access internal company resources, and the VPN client explicitly shows "Disconnected," the most likely cause is that the required remote-access VPN tunnel is not established. A technician should first verify that the user launches the approved VPN client, authenticates successfully, and confirms the session is connected before investigating more complex causes. This aligns with standard troubleshooting methodology and common enterprise remote-access design, where internal resources such as file shares, intranet portals, and line-of-business applications are restricted to devices on the corporate network or connected through a secure VPN. Best practices from major operating system and VPN vendors consistently emphasize using authenticated VPN connectivity to securely access private network resources over the public internet.
- A. Correct.
This is correct. The scenario states that public internet access works, but internal resources are unavailable and the VPN client shows "Disconnected." In a typical remote-access setup, internal file shares and intranet sites are reachable only after establishing a VPN tunnel to the corporate network. The first and most appropriate action is to connect the approved VPN client and confirm that the tunnel is active.
- B. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. Manually changing the laptop's local IP address to resemble the office subnet will not provide access to corporate resources across the internet. VPN access depends on authenticated, encrypted tunneling to the company network, not on assigning a matching private IP range at home. This distractor reflects a common misconception that IP addressing alone grants network access.
- C. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. A host firewall can affect connectivity, but the clearest symptom in this scenario is that the VPN is not connected at all. Disabling the firewall is not an appropriate first step and would reduce security. Best practice is to establish the required secure connection first, then investigate filtering issues only if access still fails.
- D. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. The home router is unlikely to be the first issue to replace because the user already has working internet connectivity. Internal company access is failing because the VPN session is disconnected, not because the ISP or router necessarily cannot reach the internet. Replacing hardware before verifying the required VPN connection would be premature and inefficient.