diff --git a/ui/src/views/CompanyEditView.vue b/ui/src/views/CompanyEditView.vue
index 02138e2..d31a1f3 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/CompanyEditView.vue
+++ b/ui/src/views/CompanyEditView.vue
@@ -223,7 +223,11 @@ onMounted(async () => {
       { title: t('company.title'), to: '/id/company' },
       { title: t('company.new') },
     ])
-    const check = await api.get('rest/service/id/company/Ligoj')
+    // Check if API is available. Use a list probe (rows=1) so the check doesn't
+    // depend on a specific hardcoded entity that may or may not exist in the
+    // real LDAP backend. The list endpoint returns 200 with an empty array when
+    // nothing matches, and `code` is only set on real API errors.
+    const check = await api.get('rest/service/id/company?rows=1&page=1')
     if (!check || check.code) {
       demoMode.value = true
       errorStore.clear()
diff --git a/ui/src/views/GroupEditView.vue b/ui/src/views/GroupEditView.vue
index a660fcf..d728e2a 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/GroupEditView.vue
+++ b/ui/src/views/GroupEditView.vue
@@ -168,7 +168,11 @@ onMounted(async () => {
       { title: t('group.title'), to: '/id/group' },
       { title: t('group.new') },
     ])
-    const check = await api.get('rest/service/id/group/Engineering')
+    // Check if API is available. Use a list probe (rows=1) so the check doesn't
+    // depend on a specific hardcoded entity that may or may not exist in the
+    // real LDAP backend. The list endpoint returns 200 with an empty array when
+    // nothing matches, and `code` is only set on real API errors.
+    const check = await api.get('rest/service/id/group?rows=1&page=1')
     if (!check || check.code) {
       demoMode.value = true
       errorStore.clear()
diff --git a/ui/src/views/UserEditView.vue b/ui/src/views/UserEditView.vue
index 48424ec..5966d68 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/UserEditView.vue
+++ b/ui/src/views/UserEditView.vue
@@ -400,8 +400,11 @@ onMounted(async () => {
       { title: t('user.title'), to: '/id/user' },
       { title: t('user.new') },
     ])
-    // Check if API is available
-    const check = await api.get('rest/service/id/user/admin')
+    // Check if API is available. Use a list probe (rows=1) so the check doesn't
+    // depend on a specific hardcoded entity that may or may not exist in the
+    // real LDAP backend. The list endpoint returns 200 with an empty array when
+    // nothing matches, and `code` is only set on real API errors.
+    const check = await api.get('rest/service/id/user?rows=1&page=1')
     if (!check || check.code) {
       demoMode.value = true
       errorStore.clear()