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ICSM Computer

ICSM Computer

01-Jun-2025

To enable Forms Authentication in your ASP.NET application's web.config file, you need to configure the <authentication> and <authorization> sections. Here’s how you do it:

Basic Setup to Enable Forms Authentication

Add the following inside the <system.web> section of your web.config:

<system.web>
  <authentication mode="Forms">
    <forms loginUrl="~/Login.aspx" timeout="30" />
  </authentication>

  <authorization>
    <deny users="?" />
  </authorization>
</system.web>

Explanation:

  • <authentication mode="Forms">: This tells ASP.NET to use Forms Authentication.
  • <forms loginUrl="~/Login.aspx" timeout="30" />:
  • loginUrl specifies the path to the login page where unauthenticated users will be redirected.
  • timeout sets the expiration time (in minutes) for the authentication ticket.
  • <authorization> section:
  • <deny users="?" /> denies access to all anonymous (not logged in) users.
  • This means only authenticated users can access the site or resources by default.

Optional configurations you can add inside <forms>:

  1. name: the name of the authentication cookie (default is .ASPXAUTH).
  2. path: the cookie path (default is /).
  3. requireSSL="true": forces the cookie to be sent over HTTPS only.
  4. slidingExpiration="true": refreshes the cookie expiration time on each request.
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