diff --git a/src/vagrant/jupyter-bis/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py b/src/vagrant/jupyter-bis/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py
index 96dfaf7c741f4f694cb9be3106f3499b249679c7..56abe940ab2517e9a32025154b59871420eb2687 100644
--- a/src/vagrant/jupyter-bis/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py
+++ b/src/vagrant/jupyter-bis/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py
@@ -448,3 +448,7 @@ c.LocalAuthenticator.create_system_users = True
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 c.OpenbisAuthenticator.server_url = "https://localhost:8443"
 c.OpenbisAuthenticator.verify_certificates = False
+
+# enable persisting auth_state:
+c.Authenticator.enable_auth_state = True
+