title: ASP.NET - Login Control with Credentials in web.config file
body: <p>I have been trying to whip up a quick and dirty application. This application needs to support user authentication. To accomplish this, I thought I could rely on the built in Login control and utilize the credentials ability of the web.config like so:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;authentication mode="Forms"&gt;
    &lt;forms defaultUrl="/authenticated/menu.aspx" loginUrl="Default.aspx"&gt;
      &lt;credentials passwordFormat="Clear"&gt;
        &lt;user name="user1" password="p@ssw0rd" /&gt;  
      &lt;/credentials&gt;
    &lt;/forms&gt;
  &lt;/authentication&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, it seems the Login control requires a Membership Provider. I have the following two questions:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Does a membership provider that works with the web.config exist? if so, where? I haven't been able to find one?</li>
  <li>Is it possible to login to a web application using the credentials in the web.config?</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Thank you!</p>