What is Forms Authentication in ASP.NET and how does it work?
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Updated 01 Jun 2025
Forms Authentication in ASP.NET is a way to authenticate users by having them log in through a web form. Instead of using Windows authentication, users enter their credentials on a login page. When they successfully log in, ASP.NET issues an authentication ticket, usually stored in a cookie, which identifies the user on subsequent requests.
How Forms Authentication Works:
Configuration example in
web.config:loginUrlspecifies the page where users enter their credentials.<deny users="?">means anonymous users (not logged in) are denied access to the protected resources.Creating the authentication ticket in code:
Logging out:
Summary