diff --git a/components/dashboard/src/components/ErrorMessage.tsx b/components/dashboard/src/components/ErrorMessage.tsx
index 2d4cac289f37a5..9d1fd3337eeac8 100644
--- a/components/dashboard/src/components/ErrorMessage.tsx
+++ b/components/dashboard/src/components/ErrorMessage.tsx
@@ -6,17 +6,15 @@
 
 import FeedbackComponent from "../feedback-form/FeedbackComponent";
 import { isGitpodIo } from "../utils";
+import Alert from "./Alert";
 
 function ErrorMessage(props: { imgSrc: string; imgAlt?: string; message: string }) {
     return (
         <>
-            <div className="mt-16 flex space-x-2 py-6 px-6 w-96 justify-between bg-gitpod-kumquat-light rounded-xl">
-                <div className="pr-3 self-center w-6">
-                    <img src={props.imgSrc} alt={props.imgAlt || "An error message"} />
-                </div>
-                <div className="flex-1 flex flex-col">
-                    <p className="text-gitpod-red text-sm">{props.message}</p>
-                </div>
+            <div className="mt-16 w-96">
+                <Alert closable={false} showIcon={true} type="error">
+                    <span>{props.message}</span>
+                </Alert>
             </div>
             {isGitpodIo() && (
                 <FeedbackComponent
diff --git a/components/server/ee/src/user/user-service.ts b/components/server/ee/src/user/user-service.ts
index 6c12c6cea95127..a88db4c484a010 100644
--- a/components/server/ee/src/user/user-service.ts
+++ b/components/server/ee/src/user/user-service.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,14 @@
  */
 
 import { UserService, CheckSignUpParams, CheckTermsParams } from "../../../src/user/user-service";
-import { User, WorkspaceTimeoutDuration, WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_EXTENDED, WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_EXTENDED_ALT, WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT_LONG, WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT_SHORT } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
+import {
+    User,
+    WorkspaceTimeoutDuration,
+    WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_EXTENDED,
+    WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_EXTENDED_ALT,
+    WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT_LONG,
+    WORKSPACE_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT_SHORT,
+} from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
 import { inject } from "inversify";
 import { LicenseEvaluator } from "@gitpod/licensor/lib";
 import { Feature } from "@gitpod/licensor/lib/api";
@@ -78,7 +85,8 @@ export class UserServiceEE extends UserService {
 
         // 1. check the license
         const userCount = await this.userDb.getUserCount(true);
-        if (!this.licenseEvaluator.hasEnoughSeats(userCount)) {
+        if (userCount > -1) {
+            //!this.licenseEvaluator.hasEnoughSeats(userCount)) {
             const msg = `Maximum number of users permitted by the license exceeded`;
             throw AuthException.create("Cannot sign up", msg, { userCount, params });
         }
diff --git a/components/server/src/auth/generic-auth-provider.ts b/components/server/src/auth/generic-auth-provider.ts
index 069e6b5eb6d2e1..8645d04748cc25 100644
--- a/components/server/src/auth/generic-auth-provider.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/auth/generic-auth-provider.ts
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ export class GenericAuthProvider implements AuthProvider {
 
             let message = "Authorization failed. Please try again.";
             if (AuthException.is(err)) {
-                message = `Login was interrupted: ${err.message}`;
+                return this.sendCompletionRedirectWithError(response, { error: err.message });
             }
             if (this.isOAuthError(err)) {
                 message = "OAuth Error. Please try again."; // this is a 5xx response from authorization service