diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Configuration.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Configuration.php
index daa558e9a757290ee38e50864a84b3531ec9958a..40941d56bb39a4f2f8a3dbf20b64fb4e910744ac 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Configuration.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Configuration.php
@@ -278,11 +278,6 @@ class SimpleSAML_Configuration {
 
 		$dir = dirname($this->filename);
 
-		if ($instancename === 'simplesaml') {
-			/* For backwards compatibility. */
-			self::setConfigDir($path, 'simplesaml');
-		}
-
 		self::$instance[$instancename] = self::loadFromFile($dir . '/' . $filename, TRUE);
 		return self::$instance[$instancename];
 	}