diff --git a/config/src/main/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean.java b/config/src/main/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean.java
index 5052bdfadf..605595e0ca 100644
--- a/config/src/main/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean.java
+++ b/config/src/main/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader;
 import org.springframework.security.config.core.userdetails.UserDetailsResourceFactoryBean;
 import org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.UserDetails;
 import org.springframework.security.provisioning.InMemoryUserDetailsManager;
+import org.springframework.security.util.InMemoryResource;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
 
@@ -96,4 +97,17 @@ public class UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean implements ResourceLoaderAwar
 		result.setResource(resource);
 		return result;
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Create a UserDetailsServiceResourceFactoryBean with a String that is in the
+	 * format defined in {@link UserDetailsResourceFactoryBean}
+	 *
+	 * @param users the users in the format defined in {@link UserDetailsResourceFactoryBean}
+	 * @return the UserDetailsResourceFactoryBean
+	 */
+	public static UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean fromString(String users) {
+		UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean result = new UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean();
+		result.setResource(new InMemoryResource(users));
+		return result;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/config/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBeanStringITests.java b/config/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBeanStringITests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c74b428aab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/provisioning/UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBeanStringITests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.security.config.provisioning;
+
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
+import org.springframework.security.provisioning.UserDetailsManager;
+import org.springframework.security.util.InMemoryResource;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringRunner;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.AssertionsForInterfaceTypes.assertThat;
+
+/**
+ * @author Rob Winch
+ * @since 5.0
+ */
+@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
+public class UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBeanStringITests {
+	@Autowired
+	UserDetailsManager users;
+
+	@Test
+	public void loadUserByUsernameWhenUserFoundThenNotNull() {
+		assertThat(this.users.loadUserByUsername("user")).isNotNull();
+	}
+
+	@Configuration
+	static class Config {
+		@Bean
+		public UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean userDetailsService() {
+			return UserDetailsManagerResourceFactoryBean.fromString("user=password,ROLE_USER");
+		}
+	}
+}