An approach is provided that receives a user identifier from a user of the information handling system. The user identifier can include a username as well as a user authentication code, such as a password. Hardware settings that correspond to the user identifier are retrieved from a nonvolatile memory. Hardware devices, such as ports (e.g., USB controller), network interfaces, storage devices, and boot sequences, are configured using the retrieved hardware settings. After the hardware devices have been configured to correspond to the identified user, an operating system is booted.