Many hands-on labs as well as all Challenge labs contain validation checks. These validations detect the action you took in the lab environment and check to see if your actions match the expected outcome.

The validation will fail if you didn't perform the lab instructions correctly or meet the challenge requirements.

The good news is that it's usually easy to fix. Try the following troubleshooting steps.

Step 1: Check the console region

One common problem we see with AWS labs is failing to set the Console Region correctly. (For Azure and GCP labs, you set the region when creating the resources. See Step 3: Check your data entry below.)

Step 1 of every AWS lab includes information about credentials and logging in, which people tend to overlook once they've completed a few labs.

Even though it is easy to overlook, if you do not set the region according to the instructions, the lab validation will fail every time, even if everything else is perfect.

Step 2: Check your data entry

Most validations fail because there is a mismatch in the data you entered. For your hands-on lab to pass the step validation, you must follow the instructions precisely. All names, labels, and other data you enter is case-sensitive and must match the lab instructions exactly.

While AWS uses the console region you configure at the beginning of the lab, Azure and GCP labs require you to set the correct location and region when you create them. Make sure that you are setting these values correctly.

Challenges are a little different in that they give you a goal and you need to use your existing knowledge, manipulate the environment, and meet that goal. If the validation fails on your challenge, that means you did not modify the environment in order to meet the goal of the challenge. 

Step 3: Check the status page

Check the QA Status page to see if there is an issue with the system. If there is, you can click Subscribe to Updates and receive a notification when the issue is resolved.

If you're still having problems with the hands-on labs, see How can I get help if I have a problem with the labs? for information on using the Support button on the hands-on lab.