diff --git a/cmd/registry/auth/basic/basic.go b/cmd/registry/auth/basic/basic.go
index f02aef73..fb47ace3 100644
--- a/cmd/registry/auth/basic/basic.go
+++ b/cmd/registry/auth/basic/basic.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/internal/config"
 	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/internal/login/basic"
+	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/internal/utils"
 	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/pkg/oci/authn"
 	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/pkg/options"
 	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/pkg/output"
@@ -95,8 +96,15 @@ Example - Login with username and password in an interactive prompt:
 
 // RunBasic executes the business logic for the basic command.
 func (o *loginOptions) RunBasic(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
-	reg := args[0]
+	var reg string
 	logger := o.Printer.Logger
+
+	// Allow to have the registry expressed as a ref, but actually extract it.
+	reg, err := utils.GetRegistryFromRef(args[0])
+	if err != nil {
+		reg = args[0]
+	}
+
 	if err := getCredentials(o.Printer, o); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 3e29978e..6b7114e2 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 
+	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/internal/utils"
 	drivertype "github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/pkg/driver/type"
 	"github.com/falcosecurity/falcoctl/pkg/oci"
 )
@@ -395,8 +396,14 @@ func basicAuthListHookFunc() mapstructure.DecodeHookFuncType {
 					return data, fmt.Errorf("not valid token %q", token)
 				}
 
+				// Allow to have the registry expressed as a ref, but actually extract it.
+				registry, err := utils.GetRegistryFromRef(values[0])
+				if err != nil {
+					registry = values[0]
+				}
+
 				auths[i] = BasicAuth{
-					Registry: values[0],
+					Registry: registry,
 					User:     values[1],
 					Password: values[2],
 				}