diff --git a/server/src/engine/core/system_db.rs b/server/src/engine/core/system_db.rs
index 303adfa6..f9d0a4cb 100644
--- a/server/src/engine/core/system_db.rs
+++ b/server/src/engine/core/system_db.rs
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ impl User {
             phash: password_hash,
         }
     }
+    pub fn hash(&self) -> &[u8] {
+        &self.phash
+    }
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone, Copy)]
diff --git a/server/src/engine/storage/v2/mod.rs b/server/src/engine/storage/v2/mod.rs
index 7c1a7863..8d3bae33 100644
--- a/server/src/engine/storage/v2/mod.rs
+++ b/server/src/engine/storage/v2/mod.rs
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ pub fn recreate(gns: GNSData) -> RuntimeResult<SELoaded> {
         model_driver.commit_with_ctx(FullModel::new(model_data), BatchStats::new())?;
         model.driver().initialize_model_driver(model_driver);
     }
+    // create all users
+    context::set_dmsg("creating all users");
+    for (user_name, user) in gns.sys_db().users().read().iter() {
+        gns_driver.commit_event(CreateUserTxn::new(&user_name, user.hash()))?;
+    }
     Ok(SELoaded {
         gns: GlobalNS::new(gns, FractalGNSDriver::new(gns_driver)),
     })