diff --git a/node/landing-page/src/App.tsx b/node/landing-page/src/App.tsx
index e52a11bd..5b9b1f3b 100644
--- a/node/landing-page/src/App.tsx
+++ b/node/landing-page/src/App.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import { Loading } from './components/Loading';
 import { LoginButton } from './components/LoginButton';
 
 // global state to be kept between render calls
-let initialized = false;
+const [initialized, setInitialized] = useState(false);
 let initialAppName = '';
 let initialAppDefinition = '';
 let keycloakConfig: KeycloakConfig | undefined = undefined;
@@ -124,14 +124,15 @@ function App(): JSX.Element {
               setToken(keycloak.idToken);
               setEmail(userMail);
               setLogoutUrl(keycloak.createLogoutUrl());
+              setInitialized(true);
             }
           }
         })
         .catch(() => {
           console.error('Authentication Failed');
+          setError('Authentication failed');
         });
     }
-    initialized = true;
   }
 
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -150,8 +151,7 @@ function App(): JSX.Element {
     }
 
     if (selectedAppDefinition && gitUri) {
-      console.log('Checking auth, setting autoStart to true and starting session');
-      authenticate();
+      console.log('Setting autoStart to true and starting session');
       setAutoStart(true);
       handleStartSession(selectedAppDefinition);
     } else {
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ function App(): JSX.Element {
     setLoading(true);
     setError(undefined);
 
+    
     // first check if the service is available. if not we are doing maintenance and should adapt the error message accordingly
     TheiaCloud.ping(PingRequest.create(config.serviceUrl, config.appId))
       .then(() => {
@@ -296,6 +297,7 @@ function App(): JSX.Element {
           'Sorry, we are performing some maintenance at the moment.\n' +
             "Please try again later. Usually maintenance won't last longer than 60 minutes.\n\n"
         );
+        setError(_err.message);
         setLoading(false);
       });
   };