Using HTTP Authentication with a C# WebRequest

Question

I want to make a web request to a page that needs authenticating. How would I go about doing this? I found something that said possibly to use the Credentials property, but I'm not sure how to use it.

score 44 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 02 '09 at 00:39

44

Assign a new NetworkCredential instance to the Credentials property:

webClient.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("Mehrdad", "Password");

answered Apr 02 '09 at 00:39

Mehrdad Afshari

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1

This didn't work for me, but ikutsin's answer setting the "Authorization" header explicitly with Basic auth info did work for me. – markshep Oct 24 '16 at 13:16
1

Both methods (credentials and adding header) are works. But i don't really get which one is better and why? – Archont Jan 24 '17 at 06:37

score 22 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 04 '12 at 15:51

22

Basic auth example:

public void SetBasicAuthHeader(WebRequest req, String userName, String userPassword)
{
    string authInfo = userName + ":" + userPassword;
    authInfo = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.Default.GetBytes(authInfo));
    req.Headers["Authorization"] = "Basic " + authInfo;
}

http://blog.kowalczyk.info/article/at3/Forcing-basic-http-authentication-for-HttpWebReq.html

answered Dec 04 '12 at 15:51

ikutsin

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Good point here. The extra chattiness that this avoids can also be a performance problem. – tallseth Dec 23 '13 at 12:51

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered May 07 '12 at 00:38

3

It is also possible to authenticate automatically with. This will use the credentials of the currently logged on user.

webClient.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

answered May 07 '12 at 00:38

Adrian Russell

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Using HTTP Authentication with a C# WebRequest

3 Answers3

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