Which Windows component stores the ports that are being used by the system?

• A. Windows Registry
• B. Network Configuration
• C. Firewall Rules
• D. Device Manager

Answer: (A)

Port configuration for Windows services is stored in the Registry. This central storage holds the settings that define which ports a service is configured to listen on, so Windows can start those services with the correct endpoints after boot. The actual ports in use at any moment are a dynamic state kept by the networking stack in memory and are visible with tools like netstat, not kept in the Registry. Other options describe components that don’t serve as the long-term store for per-service port assignments: Network Configuration covers overall settings for network interfaces, Firewall Rules control what traffic is allowed or blocked rather than which ports services are configured to use, and Device Manager lists hardware rather than network port configurations.