diff --git a/paperless.conf.example b/paperless.conf.example
index b197b1a12..d6d6527f0 100644
--- a/paperless.conf.example
+++ b/paperless.conf.example
@@ -86,6 +86,11 @@ PAPERLESS_PASSPHRASE="secret"
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/ref/settings/#force-script-name
 #PAPERLESS_FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME=""
 
+# If you are using alternative authentication means or are just using paperless
+# as a single user on a small private network, this option allows you to disable
+# user authentication if you set it to "true"
+#PAPERLESS_DISABLE_LOGIN="false"
+
 ###############################################################################
 ####                          Software Tweaks                              ####
 ###############################################################################
diff --git a/src/paperless/middleware.py b/src/paperless/middleware.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8fed7da8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/paperless/middleware.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from django.utils.deprecation import MiddlewareMixin
+from .models import User
+
+
+class Middleware (MiddlewareMixin):
+    """
+      This is a dummy authentication middleware class that creates what
+      is roughly an Anonymous authenticated user so we can disable login
+      and not interfere with existing user ID's. It's only used if
+      login is disabled in paperless.conf (default is to require login)
+    """
+
+    def process_request(self, request):
+        request.user = User()
diff --git a/src/paperless/models.py b/src/paperless/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4001d3468
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/paperless/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+class User:
+    """
+      This is a dummy django User used with our middleware to disable
+      login authentication if that is configured in paperless.conf
+    """
+    is_superuser = True
+    is_active = True
+    is_staff = True
+    is_authenticated = True
+
+    # Must be -1 to avoid colliding with real user ID's (which start at 1)
+    id = -1
+
+    @property
+    def pk(self):
+        return self.id
+
+
+"""
+  NOTE: These are here as a hack instead of being in the User definition
+  above due to the way pycodestyle handles lamdbdas.
+  See https://github.com/PyCQA/pycodestyle/issues/379 for more.
+"""
+
+User.has_module_perms = lambda *_: True
+User.has_perm = lambda *_: True
diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index 14b2aeb63..b998e101a 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = [
 if os.getenv("PAPERLESS_INSTALLED_APPS"):
     INSTALLED_APPS += os.getenv("PAPERLESS_INSTALLED_APPS").split(",")
 
+
+
 MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = [
     'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
@@ -88,6 +90,12 @@ MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = [
     'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
 ]
 
+#If AUTH is disabled, we just use our "bypass" authentication middleware
+if  bool(os.getenv("PAPERLESS_DISABLE_LOGIN", "false").lower() in ("yes", "y", "1", "t", "true")):
+    _index = MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES.index('django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware')
+    MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES[_index] = 'paperless.middleware.Middleware'
+    MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES.remove('django.contrib.auth.middleware.SessionAuthenticationMiddleware')
+
 ROOT_URLCONF = 'paperless.urls'
 
 TEMPLATES = [