An administrator has installed an OS on a server. The administrator is able to ping directory server by IP address but is unable to join the domain. Which of the following could be causing the…

An IP address conflict would disrupt IP-level communication and likely prevent even the successful ping that was observed.

An incorrect default gateway would affect routing to remote networks but would not prevent joining a domain on the same local subnet, and ping success suggests the gateway is functional.

An incorrect subnet mask would cause IP communication failures on the local network, but the successful ping indicates IP connectivity is working correctly.

Domain join operations require the client to resolve the domain name to locate domain controllers via DNS SRV records. If DNS is misconfigured or points to the wrong server, the client cannot resolve the domain name even though IP-level connectivity is confirmed by the successful ping. Fixing the DNS server address in the NIC configuration would allow domain name resolution and enable the domain join.

A MAC address conflict would cause intermittent or failed network communication at Layer 2, preventing the ping from succeeding consistently.