1. Ports
  2. Port 1041

The Port That Time Forgot

Port 1041 is a registered port in the User Ports range (1024-49151), officially assigned to a service called danf-ak2, which appears to be related to an "AK2 Product." Beyond that single, cryptic entry in the IANA registry, there is essentially nothing: no RFC, no specification document, no story of why it was registered or what it was supposed to do.

What This Port Is

It's a registered User Port, which means anyone with an official need could request it. Someone did. Someone registered port 1041 for "danf-ak2" and then, as far as the public record shows, never explained what that meant or why anyone should care. 1

The Registration Range

Port 1041 falls in the registered port range (1024-49151), meaning it's legitimate to request it from IANA if you have an application that needs a permanent, publicly known port number. The range sits between ephemeral ports (49152-65535) that your operating system hands out temporarily, and system ports (0-1023) that are reserved for core Internet services.

Finding What's Really There

If port 1041 is listening on your system, you can check what's using it:

On macOS/Linux:

lsof -i :1041

On Windows:

netstat -ano | findstr :1041

Or more explicitly, find the process ID and check:

tasklist /FI "PID eq [process-id]"

You'll probably find nothing, or something unexpected. That's the honest truth about port 1041.

Why Abandoned Registrations Matter

The Internet's port space is finite—65,535 total ports. When someone registers a port but doesn't document it, doesn't use it, doesn't explain it, they're taking up real estate that could have gone to something with actual users. Port 1041 is a reminder that even official assignments aren't guarantees of meaning.

The IANA registry is a contract between the Internet and its participants: you get a number, you explain what it's for. Port 1041 is someone who showed up, got their number, and disappeared.

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