diff --git a/cluster_setup/user_setup.sh b/cluster_setup/user_setup.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bc2e6ef9537ea77df0f37afefa03c3db88d648a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster_setup/user_setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+## script to create 40 users called testXX with a default password
+## and setup up ssh logins without asking for passwords & host checking
+
+n=40
+for i in `seq -w 1 ${n}`
+do
+  echo $i;
+
+  ## create n new user called testXX and create default password
+  adduser --gecos "" --disabled-password test${i}
+  echo test${i}:SoftwareC | chpasswd
+
+  ## create somewhere to store ssh configuration
+  mkdir -p /home/test${i}/.ssh
+  echo 'Host *\n  StrictHostKeyChecking no\n  ForwardX11 yes' > /home/test${i}/.ssh/config
+
+  ## generate a ssh key & copy to the list of authorized keys
+  ssh-keygen -f /home/test${i}/.ssh/id_rsa -t rsa -N ''
+  cp /home/test${i}/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /home/test${i}/.ssh/authorized_keys
+
+  ## set new user as owner
+  chown -R test${i}:test${i} /home/test${i}/.ssh
+  chmod 600 /home/test${i}/.ssh/config
+
+done