diff --git a/composer.lock b/composer.lock
index baba3aff5..effe384ae 100644
--- a/composer.lock
+++ b/composer.lock
@@ -1061,12 +1061,12 @@
             "source": {
                 "type": "git",
                 "url": "https://github.com/phpList/phplist-plugin-saml2.git",
-                "reference": "ad8aaa2f5a22f42b3cc50f720de039ddeb6d56f1"
+                "reference": "8f1ca9ff9ed0812103126bc0c0b9fe064bb6575d"
             },
             "dist": {
                 "type": "zip",
-                "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/phpList/phplist-plugin-saml2/zipball/ad8aaa2f5a22f42b3cc50f720de039ddeb6d56f1",
-                "reference": "ad8aaa2f5a22f42b3cc50f720de039ddeb6d56f1",
+                "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/phpList/phplist-plugin-saml2/zipball/8f1ca9ff9ed0812103126bc0c0b9fe064bb6575d",
+                "reference": "8f1ca9ff9ed0812103126bc0c0b9fe064bb6575d",
                 "shasum": ""
             },
             "require": {
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@
                 "wiki": "http://resources.phplist.com/",
                 "source": "https://github.com/phpList/phpList3"
             },
-            "time": "2025-06-28T09:36:08+00:00"
+            "time": "2026-05-06T08:58:48+00:00"
         },
         {
             "name": "phplist/phplist-plugin-subjectlineplaceholders",
diff --git a/scripts/install-plugins.sh b/scripts/install-plugins.sh
index 4277ae043..fb3fa365f 100755
--- a/scripts/install-plugins.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-plugins.sh
@@ -11,9 +11,29 @@ echo $from $to
   apt install -y rsync
 }
 
-for plugin in $(find $from -type d -name phplist-plugin-*); do
-  [[ ! -z "$(ls -A $plugin/plugins/)" ]] && {
-    echo installing plugin $plugin
-    rsync -a $plugin/plugins/* $to
-  }
-done
+while IFS= read -r -d '' plugin; do
+  plugin_name="$(basename "$plugin")"
+
+  [[ -d "$plugin/plugins" ]] || continue
+  [[ -n "$(find "$plugin/plugins" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -print -quit)" ]] || continue
+
+  echo "Installing plugin: $plugin_name"
+
+  rsync_args=(-a)
+
+  case "$plugin_name" in
+    phplist-plugin-saml2)
+      settings_file="$to/simplesaml/settings.php"
+
+      if [[ -f "$settings_file" ]]; then
+        echo "Preserving existing SAML2 settings.php"
+        rsync_args+=(--exclude='simplesaml/settings.php')
+      else
+        echo "SAML2 settings.php does not exist, it will be created"
+      fi
+      ;;
+  esac
+
+  rsync "${rsync_args[@]}" "$plugin/plugins/" "$to/"
+
+done < <(find "$from" -type d -name 'phplist-plugin-*' -print0)