Ticket examples
Help desk ticket examples: 12 common tickets and how to handle them
Users rarely write a ticket that says what's wrong. They write what they see (“the printer doesn't work”), what they need (“just give me admin rights”), or how they feel about it (“this is the THIRD time”). Below are 12 common help desk tickets written the way users write them, with what each one is really testing and a strong first move. All of them are fictional, and all 12 are in our free practice set.
The most common help desk tickets
Most help desk queues are made up of the same few kinds of tickets:
- Accounts and access: password resets, lockouts, MFA problems, access to shared folders, leavers and new starters.
- Hardware: laptops that won't start, monitors, docks, printers, lost or damaged devices.
- Network and remote access: slow internet, Wi-Fi drops, VPN failures, one room or one floor offline.
- Software and licensing: apps that won't open, install requests, admin rights, licence seats.
- Security reports: suspicious emails, unknown USB sticks, devices that shouldn't be on the network.
The examples below cover each area. A ticket in one category is often testing a skill from another: plenty of “hardware” tickets are really security calls.
12 ticket examples
Hardware and devices
1. “The printer doesn't work”
The printer doesn't work. Can someone fix it? Thanks.
- What it's testing: whether you scope a one-line ticket before acting.
- Strong first move: ask which printer, what happens when they print, since when, and whether anyone else has the problem. Then act on the answer.
- Common miss: walking to the nearest printer to look, or restarting the print service for everyone on a guess.
2. The third printer complaint this week
This is the THIRD time I'm reporting this printer!! It jams every single day and nobody has fixed it.
- What it's testing: whether you own the user's frustration or defend the ticket history.
- Strong first move: acknowledge the frustration and apologize, link the earlier tickets so the pattern is visible, treat the repeated jam as a likely hardware fault, and give a specific follow-up time.
- Common miss: pointing out that the earlier tickets were “resolved”. It's technically true, and it ends the user's trust in the desk.
3. Laptop dead 45 minutes before a board presentation
My laptop won't turn on at all. Black screen. I present to the board in 45 minutes and my deck is on this machine.
- What it's testing: whether you restore the business need first and diagnose second.
- Strong first move: get the deck from cloud storage or backup onto a loaner or the meeting-room PC so the presentation goes ahead. Look at the laptop afterwards.
- Common miss: spending the 45 minutes on hardware diagnostics.
4. Second monitor shows “No Signal” after a desk move
Facilities moved my desk over the weekend and now my second monitor shows “No Signal”. The main one works fine.
- What it's testing: starting with what changed.
- Strong first move: reseat the video cable at both ends, check the monitor's input source, check the dock or adapter. Escalate hardware only if those fail.
- Common miss: updating graphics drivers. The software didn't change over the weekend. The desk did.
5. Lost work laptop, “probably fine”
I think I left my laptop in a taxi last night. It's probably fine, I'll check with the taxi company later.
- What it's testing: recognizing a security incident even when the user doesn't.
- Strong first move: report it as a security incident, trigger remote lock or wipe per policy, reset the user's credentials, then arrange a loaner.
- Common miss: waiting to see if the taxi company finds it.
6. New hire has no equipment on day one
8:45 AM, from a manager: “My new analyst starts TODAY and there's no laptop, no account, nothing. She's sitting in reception.”
- What it's testing: calming an angry requester and fixing the person's day before arguing about process.
- Strong first move: issue a loaner, create the account through the expedited path, get the new hire working within the hour. Then find out where onboarding broke, without blaming anyone.
- Common miss: opening with “no ticket was raised, so this is on HR”.
Network and remote access
7. “The internet is slow”
The internet has been unbearably slow all morning. Pages take forever. I'm on the 2nd floor.
- What it's testing: turning a vague complaint into evidence.
- Strong first move: scope it. Is it every site or one, wired or Wi-Fi, just them or the neighbours too? Run a quick speed and latency test, then act on what the results show.
- Common miss: rebooting and clearing the cache with nothing measured, or escalating “it's slow” with no details.
8. VPN fails at a hotel, error 809
I'm working from a hotel and the VPN keeps failing with error 809. It worked fine at home yesterday. I have a client demo in 3 hours.
- What it's testing: isolating what changed (home vs hotel) instead of trying random fixes.
- Strong first move: test from a phone hotspot to confirm the hotel network is blocking the VPN, then use a VPN mode that works over standard web ports, or the hotspot, so the demo goes ahead.
- Common miss: reinstalling the VPN client first.
9. Video calls freeze only in one conference room
Every client call in Conference Room B freezes a few minutes in. Same laptops work fine in Room A. Big client call there again on Thursday.
- What it's testing: reproducing the problem and handing off with evidence.
- Strong first move: run a test call in Room B, compare its access point and network port with Room A, escalate to networking with the findings, and book Room A as a fallback for Thursday.
- Common miss: escalating “video issues in Room B” with nothing reproduced, or replacing the webcam on a guess.
Accounts and access
10. Account locks itself every morning
My account gets locked out almost every morning before I even log in. You clear it, it works all day, and next morning it's locked again.
- What it's testing: recognizing the stale-password pattern.
- Strong first move: check the lockout source, then look for a device still using the old password (phone mail or Wi-Fi profile, a mapped drive, a scheduled task). Fix that device, then clear the lockout.
- Common miss: raising the lockout threshold for this user, or resetting the password again.
Software and licensing
11. Excel file “corrupted” after an update
Ever since yesterday's update, my main Excel report won't open. It says the file format is invalid. I need it for Friday.
- What it's testing: isolating file vs app vs update with two quick questions.
- Strong first move: ask whether the file opens for a colleague or in the web version, and whether other spreadsheets open on this machine. Then fix whichever side is broken.
- Common miss: reinstalling Office or rolling back the update before narrowing it down.
12. No licence seats left, deadline today
I need the diagramming software today for a client deliverable, but all licences are in use. Procurement says new seats take two weeks.
- What it's testing: solving a same-day business need inside policy.
- Strong first move: check the licence console for inactive users and reclaim a seat. If there isn't one, escalate to the licence owner for an emergency seat and offer an approved stand-in tool for today.
- Common miss: telling the user to wait two weeks, or letting them borrow a colleague's login.
What a good ticket write-up looks like
The fix is half the job. The other half is the record you leave. Here's ticket 10 written up well:
Summary: Daily account lockout before first sign-in (4th day) User: [name], Finance · Priority: Medium · Category: Accounts > Lockout Symptom: Account locked each morning ~06:00; works all day after the lockout is cleared. Changed: Password changed last week. Checked: Lockout source = user's phone (mail profile still on old password). Action: Removed and re-added mail account on phone; cleared the lockout. Result: No lockout next morning (confirmed with user 09:10). Next: None. Closing. KB article on stale credentials linked.
Someone reading this a month later knows what happened, what fixed it and how it was confirmed. That's what interviewers mean when they ask how you document your work.
Practice these tickets
Reading examples helps. Making the call yourself helps more. All 12 tickets above, plus 13 more, are in the free practice set. You pick a response, and the feedback explains why it works or what it would break.
Want a scored run instead? The help desk practice test puts ten questions on one page, and the help desk game plays all 25 as a shift with a skills report at the end. Pro adds 475 more questions; see Pricing.
Quick answers
What are the most common help desk tickets?
Password resets and lockouts, printer problems, connectivity and VPN issues, software install and access requests, and hardware faults. Security reports such as phishing emails show up on almost every desk too.
How do you prioritize help desk tickets?
By impact and urgency: how many people are affected and how soon it blocks real work. One user who can't print is usually Low. A floor that's offline, or a laptop needed for a presentation in 45 minutes, is High or Critical. Your desk's priority matrix and SLA set the exact rules.
What should a help desk ticket include?
A clear summary, who is affected, the exact symptom or error, what changed, what you checked and did, the result, and the next step. See the write-up example above.
Are these real tickets?
No. They're fictional, written to match the kinds of tickets help desks get. No real people or companies are involved.