Which action should an administrator take to restore a virtual machine to a previous state?

Reverting to the latest snapshot is the appropriate action to restore a virtual machine to a previous state because a snapshot captures the entire state of the virtual machine at a specific point in time, including its disk files, memory, and settings. When an administrator reverts to the most recent snapshot, they essentially return the VM to the exact condition it was in when that snapshot was taken. This action effectively undoes all changes made since that snapshot, allowing for recovery from errors, unwanted configurations, or system failures.

Taking a snapshot is a preventive measure used to save the current state of a virtual machine for future restoration but does not actually restore the VM. Deleting all snapshots would permanently remove available recovery points without restoring anything. Consolidating snapshots combines multiple snapshots into a single one and does not revert to a previous state but may be necessary for management purposes to eliminate unnecessary snapshot files. Thus, reverting to the latest snapshot is the most direct and effective method for restoring the VM to a desired state.