220-1102 Question 691
Single answerBackupA small accounting office stores client spreadsheets on a Windows 11 PC. The employee accidentally saved over an important Excel file several times during the day and now needs the version from yesterday afternoon. The PC is running normally, and the technician confirms that File History had been configured previously to back up the user's Libraries to an external drive. Which action should the technician take FIRST to recover the needed version as quickly as possible?
- A
Open File Explorer, browse to the file, and restore a previous version from File History
- B
Boot into Windows Recovery Environment and perform a system restore
- C
Use Disk Management to assign a new drive letter to the external backup drive
- D
Reinstall Microsoft Excel and then open the AutoRecover folder
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best answer is to restore the file from File History because the issue is limited to a user document that was overwritten, not a system-wide failure. In Windows, File History is a file-level backup feature intended to help users recover deleted or changed versions of personal files from protected folders. This aligns with common backup best practices: use the least disruptive and most targeted recovery method first, and restore only the data needed rather than rolling back the entire system. Microsoft documentation for File History and previous versions supports using File Explorer to browse and restore earlier file versions when File History has been enabled. By contrast, System Restore is for OS and configuration recovery, not primary restoration of user data files.
- A. Correct.
Correct. File History in Windows is designed to restore earlier versions of files in protected user locations such as Libraries, Desktop, Contacts, and Favorites when it has been enabled and pointed to a backup target. Because the PC is functioning normally and the user needs a prior version of a specific file, restoring the file or a previous version through File History is the fastest and most targeted recovery method.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. System Restore is intended to roll back system files, drivers, settings, and installed applications to an earlier restore point. It is not the appropriate first choice for recovering a user document that was overwritten. Using it for this problem would also be more disruptive than necessary and may not restore the needed spreadsheet version.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Assigning a new drive letter in Disk Management is only relevant if the external backup drive is not accessible because of a drive-letter conflict or missing mount point. The scenario does not indicate that the drive is unavailable; it states that File History had already been configured and the goal is to recover a previous file version quickly.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Reinstalling Excel does not recover overwritten user data. AutoRecover may help with unsaved or unexpectedly closed documents, but it is not the best first step when File History is already available and specifically suited for versioned backup recovery. This option reflects a common misconception between application recovery features and actual backup/versioning tools.