--- SimplesamlphpDrupalAuth.php.orig	2016-12-09 12:15:22.000000000 -0700
+++ SimplesamlphpDrupalAuth.php	2016-12-09 12:15:22.000000000 -0700
@@ -126,24 +126,22 @@
   public function externalRegister($authname) {
     $account = FALSE;
 
-    // First we check the admin settings for simpleSAMLphp and find out if we
-    // are allowed to register users.
-    if (!$this->config->get('register_users')) {
-
-      // We're not allowed to register new users on the site through simpleSAML.
-      // We let the user know about this and redirect to the user/login page.
-      drupal_set_message(t("We are sorry. While you have successfully authenticated, you are not yet entitled to access this site. Please ask the site administrator to provision access for you."));
-      $this->simplesamlAuth->logout(base_path());
-
-      return FALSE;
-    }
-
     // It's possible that a user with their username set to this authname
     // already exists in the Drupal database.
     $existing_user = $this->entityManager->getStorage('user')->loadByProperties(array('name' => $authname));
+    // If we did not find an account, take more action to find an existing account from other modules.
+    if(!$existing_user) {
+      $attributes = $this->simplesamlAuth->getAttributes();
+      foreach (\Drupal::moduleHandler()->getImplementations('simplesamlphp_auth_existing_user') as $module) {
+        $return_value = \Drupal::moduleHandler()->invoke($module, 'simplesamlphp_auth_existing_user', [$attributes]);
+        if ($return_value instanceof UserInterface) {
+          $existing_user = $return_value;
+        }
+      }
+    }
     $existing_user = $existing_user ? reset($existing_user) : FALSE;
     if ($existing_user) {
-      // If auto-enable SAML is activated, link this user to SAML.
+      //First lets see if we are allowed to link existing accounts. If we are we can determine if one exists.
       if ($this->config->get('autoenablesaml')) {
         if ($this->config->get('debug')) {
           $this->logger->debug('Linking authname %authname to existing Drupal user with ID %id because "Automatically enable SAML authentication for existing users upon successful login" setting is activated.', array(
@@ -156,7 +154,7 @@
       }
       else {
         if ($this->config->get('debug')) {
-          $this->logger->debug('A local Drupal user with username %authname already exists. Aborting the creation of a SAML-enabled Drupal user.', array(
+          $this->logger->debug('A local Drupal user with username %authname already exists. To link the accounts, enable the option to automatically enable SAML login for existing accounts.', array(
             '%authname' => $authname,
           ));
         }
@@ -166,43 +164,31 @@
         $this->simplesamlAuth->logout(base_path());
         return FALSE;
       }
+      //If successful linking sync attributes
+      if ($account) {
+        $this->synchronizeUserAttributes($account);
+      }
+
     }
     else {
-      // If auto-enable SAML is activated, take more action to find an existing
-      // user.
-      if ($this->config->get('autoenablesaml')) {
-        // Allow other modules to decide if there is an existing Drupal user,
-        // based on the supplied SAML atttributes.
-        $attributes = $this->simplesamlAuth->getAttributes();
-        foreach (\Drupal::moduleHandler()->getImplementations('simplesamlphp_auth_existing_user') as $module) {
-          $return_value = \Drupal::moduleHandler()->invoke($module, 'simplesamlphp_auth_existing_user', [$attributes]);
-          if ($return_value instanceof UserInterface) {
-            $account = $return_value;
-            if ($this->config->get('debug')) {
-              $this->logger->debug('Linking authname %authname to existing Drupal user with ID %id because "Automatically enable SAML authentication for existing users upon successful login" setting is activated.', array(
-                '%authname' => $authname,
-                '%id' => $account->id(),
-              ));
-            }
-            $this->externalauth->linkExistingAccount($authname, 'simplesamlphp_auth', $account);
-          }
+      if ($this->config->get('register_users')) {
+        // Try to create the new user.
+        try {
+          $account = $this->externalauth->register($authname, 'simplesamlphp_auth');
+        }
+        //If creating new user fails set error
+        catch (\Exception $ex) {
+          watchdog_exception('simplesamlphp_auth', $ex);
+          drupal_set_message(t('Error registering user: An account with this username already exists.'), 'error');
+        }
+        //If successful creation sync attributes
+        if ($account) {
+          $this->synchronizeUserAttributes($account, TRUE);
         }
       }
     }
-
-    if (!$account) {
-      // Create the new user.
-      try {
-        $account = $this->externalauth->register($authname, 'simplesamlphp_auth');
-      }
-      catch (\Exception $ex) {
-        watchdog_exception('simplesamlphp_auth', $ex);
-        drupal_set_message(t('Error registering user: An account with this username already exists.'), 'error');
-      }
-    }
-
+    //If we found a user login the user.
     if ($account) {
-      $this->synchronizeUserAttributes($account, TRUE);
       return $this->externalauth->userLoginFinalize($account, $authname, 'simplesamlphp_auth');
     }
   }