220-1102 Question 254
Single answeripA help desk technician is troubleshooting a Windows 11 laptop that cannot reach any internal or internet resources. The user recently moved to a different office and plugged into a wall jack. The technician runs ipconfig and sees the IPv4 address 169.254.22.18 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 and no default gateway. Which action should the technician take FIRST to restore network connectivity?
- A
Assign a loopback address of 127.0.0.1 to verify the NIC is working
- B
Manually configure a static IP address in the 169.254.0.0/16 range
- C
Check the physical connection and verify DHCP is available on that network jack
- D
Configure the laptop to use a public DNS server such as 8.8.8.8
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The key clue is the 169.254.22.18 address. In Windows, this is an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address assigned when the client cannot obtain an IPv4 lease from DHCP. APIPA addresses are in the 169.254.0.0/16 range and do not provide normal routed network access because there is typically no default gateway. In a real support scenario, especially after a user moves to a different office location, the technician should first verify the physical connection, switch port or wall jack activation, VLAN assignment, and DHCP availability. Microsoft documentation and common networking best practices identify APIPA as an indicator of DHCP communication failure, making DHCP and physical connectivity the first troubleshooting focus rather than DNS or manually assigning another APIPA-style address.
- A. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. 127.0.0.1 is the IPv4 loopback address used to test the local TCP/IP stack, not to provide network connectivity. Assigning it to the NIC would not help the laptop communicate on the network. A technician might choose this if they confuse local stack testing with diagnosing a failure to obtain a valid network configuration.
- B. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. An address in the 169.254.0.0/16 range is an APIPA address, which Windows self-assigns when DHCP fails and no static address is configured. Manually setting a static APIPA address would not restore access to internal resources or the internet because APIPA is only intended for limited local-link communication and does not include a usable default gateway.
- C. Correct.
This is correct. A 169.254.x.x address with a 255.255.0.0 mask and no default gateway indicates the laptop did not receive a lease from a DHCP server. Since the problem started after moving to a new office jack, the first step is to verify the cable, link status, and whether the wall jack is connected to the correct VLAN/network with DHCP available. This addresses the most likely root cause before making configuration changes.
- D. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. DNS settings do not cause a system to fall back to APIPA. The laptop currently lacks a valid DHCP-assigned IP configuration and default gateway, so it cannot reach remote networks regardless of which DNS server is configured. Someone might select this if they associate all name resolution and connectivity issues with DNS, but this scenario is an addressing problem first.