ASP.NET 4 Unleashed

Using Cookieless Forms Authentication

Normally, Forms authentication uses a cookie to identify a user. However, Forms authentication also supports a feature named cookieless authentication. When cookieless authentication is enabled, a user can be identified without a browser cookie.

By taking advantage of cookieless authentication, you can use Forms Authentication and ASP.NET Membership to authenticate users even when someone uses a browser that does not support cookies or a browser with cookies disabled.

When cookieless authentication is enabled, a user can be identified by a unique token added to a page’s URL. If a user uses relative URLs to link from one page to another, the token is passed from page to page automatically and the user can ...