A program written in untrusted code (e.g., JAVA) is enabled to access a native operating system resource (e.g., supported in WINDOWS NT) through a staged login protocol. In operation, a trusted login service listens, e.g., on a named pipe, for requests for login credentials. In response to a login request, the trusted login service requests a native operating system identifier. The native operating system identifier is then sent to the program. Using this identifier, a credential object is then created within an authentication framework. The credential object is then used to login to the native operating system to enable the program to access the resource. This technique enables a JAVA program to access a WINDOWS NT operating system resource under the identity of the user running the JAVA program.