While troubleshooting, changes to the running configuration were not saved. What action will discard those changes?

• A. Issue the reload command without saving the running configuration.
• B. Delete the vlan.dat file and reboot the device.
• C. Close and reopen the terminal emulation software.
• D. Issue the copy startup-config running-config command.

Answer: (A)

Changes to the running configuration live in RAM as the active in-memory copy. If you reboot the device without saving, the system loads the saved startup-config from NVRAM and the in-memory edits are lost. Reloading without saving is the straightforward way to discard those unsaved changes and start fresh from the last saved state.

Other actions don’t achieve this in the same way. Closing the terminal window doesn’t affect the device’s memory or configuration. Deleting the VLAN database targets VLAN state rather than the entire running configuration.