diff --git a/editor/js/comms.js b/editor/js/comms.js
index 6edd9afa0..6e6015870 100644
--- a/editor/js/comms.js
+++ b/editor/js/comms.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /**
- * Copyright 2014, 2015 IBM Corp.
+ * Copyright 2014, 2016 IBM Corp.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ RED.comms = (function() {
     var ws;
     var pendingAuth = false;
     var reconnectAttempts = 0;
+    var active = false;
 
     function connectWS() {
+        active = true;
         var path = location.hostname;
         var port = location.port;
         if (port.length !== 0) {
@@ -63,9 +65,17 @@ RED.comms = (function() {
         }
         ws.onmessage = function(event) {
             var msg = JSON.parse(event.data);
-            if (pendingAuth && msg.auth == "ok") {
-                pendingAuth = false;
-                completeConnection();
+            if (pendingAuth && msg.auth) {
+                if (msg.auth === "ok") {
+                    pendingAuth = false;
+                    completeConnection();
+                } else if (msg.auth === "fail") {
+                    // anything else is an error...
+                    active = false;
+                    RED.user.login({updateMenu:true},function() {
+                        connectWS();
+                    })
+                }
             } else if (msg.topic) {
                 for (var t in subscriptions) {
                     if (subscriptions.hasOwnProperty(t)) {
@@ -83,6 +93,9 @@ RED.comms = (function() {
             }
         };
         ws.onclose = function() {
+            if (!active) {
+                return;
+            }
             if (clearErrorTimer) {
                 clearTimeout(clearErrorTimer);
                 clearErrorTimer = null;
diff --git a/editor/js/user.js b/editor/js/user.js
index d2968a550..a079caf63 100644
--- a/editor/js/user.js
+++ b/editor/js/user.js
@@ -99,6 +99,9 @@ RED.user = (function() {
                         }).done(function(data,textStatus,xhr) {
                             RED.settings.set("auth-tokens",data);
                             $("#node-dialog-login").dialog('destroy').remove();
+                            if (opts.updateMenu) {
+                                updateUserMenu();
+                            }
                             done();
                         }).fail(function(jqXHR,textStatus,errorThrown) {
                             RED.settings.remove("auth-tokens");
@@ -133,7 +136,7 @@ RED.user = (function() {
     }
 
     function updateUserMenu() {
-        $("#usermenu-submenu li").remove();
+        $("#btn-usermenu-submenu li").remove();
         if (RED.settings.user.anonymous) {
             RED.menu.addItem("btn-usermenu",{
                 id:"usermenu-item-login",
@@ -163,8 +166,6 @@ RED.user = (function() {
 
     }
 
-
-
     function init() {
         if (RED.settings.user) {
             if (!RED.settings.editorTheme || !RED.settings.editorTheme.hasOwnProperty("userMenu")) {
diff --git a/red/api/comms.js b/red/api/comms.js
index bd898e178..171e42860 100644
--- a/red/api/comms.js
+++ b/red/api/comms.js
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ function start() {
                     } else {
                         var completeConnection = function(userScope,sendAck) {
                             if (!userScope || !Permissions.hasPermission(userScope,"status.read")) {
+                                ws.send(JSON.stringify({auth:"fail"}));
                                 ws.close();
                             } else {
                                 pendingAuth = false;