diff --git a/core/includes/common.inc b/core/includes/common.inc
index aea8529..ded16a3 100644
--- a/core/includes/common.inc
+++ b/core/includes/common.inc
@@ -3001,7 +3001,7 @@ function drupal_pre_render_styles($elements) {
   // browser-caching. The string changes on every update or full cache
   // flush, forcing browsers to load a new copy of the files, as the
   // URL changed.
-  $query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+  $query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
 
   // For inline CSS to validate as XHTML, all CSS containing XHTML needs to be
   // wrapped in CDATA. To make that backwards compatible with HTML 4, we need to
@@ -3996,7 +3996,7 @@ function drupal_pre_render_scripts($elements) {
   // URL changed. Files that should not be cached (see drupal_add_js())
   // get REQUEST_TIME as query-string instead, to enforce reload on every
   // page request.
-  $default_query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+  $default_query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
 
   // For inline JavaScript to validate as XHTML, all JavaScript containing
   // XHTML needs to be wrapped in CDATA. To make that backwards compatible
@@ -6848,7 +6848,7 @@ function drupal_flush_all_caches() {
  */
 function _drupal_flush_css_js() {
   // The timestamp is converted to base 36 in order to make it more compact.
-  variable_set('css_js_query_string', base_convert(REQUEST_TIME, 10, 36));
+  state()->set('css_js_query_string', base_convert(REQUEST_TIME, 10, 36));
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/core/includes/install.core.inc b/core/includes/install.core.inc
index 17e2a66..2867110 100644
--- a/core/includes/install.core.inc
+++ b/core/includes/install.core.inc
@@ -289,6 +289,10 @@ function install_begin_request(&$install_state) {
   // Determine whether the configuration system is ready to operate.
   $install_state['config_verified'] = install_verify_config_directory(CONFIG_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY) && install_verify_config_directory(CONFIG_STAGING_DIRECTORY);
 
+  // Check existing settings.php.
+  $install_state['database_verified'] = install_verify_database_settings();
+  $install_state['settings_verified'] = $install_state['config_verified'] && $install_state['database_verified'];
+
   // If it is not, replace the configuration storage with the InstallStorage
   // implementation, for the following reasons:
   // - The first call into drupal_container() will try to set up the regular
@@ -328,6 +332,15 @@ function install_begin_request(&$install_state) {
     drupal_container($container);
   }
 
+  // If there is no database then use MemoryStorage for state.
+  // This allows any state() functions to work in the installer before the
+  // database has been installed.
+  if (!$install_state['database_verified']) {
+  drupal_container()
+    ->register('state.storage', 'Drupal\Core\KeyValueStore\MemoryStorage')
+    ->addArgument('state');
+  }
+
   // Set up $language, so t() caller functions will still work.
   drupal_language_initialize();
 
@@ -367,10 +380,6 @@ function install_begin_request(&$install_state) {
   // accessing the database before it is set up yet.)
   drupal_maintenance_theme();
 
-  // Check existing settings.php.
-  $install_state['database_verified'] = install_verify_database_settings();
-  $install_state['settings_verified'] = $install_state['config_verified'] && $install_state['database_verified'];
-
   if ($install_state['database_verified']) {
     // Initialize the database system. Note that the connection
     // won't be initialized until it is actually requested.
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/CascadingStylesheetsTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/CascadingStylesheetsTest.php
index 0268756..566a263 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/CascadingStylesheetsTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/CascadingStylesheetsTest.php
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ class CascadingStylesheetsTest extends WebTestBase {
     $styles = drupal_get_css();
     $this->assertTrue(strpos($styles, $css) > 0, 'Rendered CSS includes the added stylesheet.');
     // Verify that newlines are properly added inside style tags.
-    $query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
     $css_processed = "<style media=\"all\">\n@import url(\"" . check_plain(file_create_url($css)) . "?" . $query_string ."\");\n</style>";
     $this->assertEqual(trim($styles), $css_processed, 'Rendered CSS includes newlines inside style tags for JavaScript use.');
   }
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ class CascadingStylesheetsTest extends WebTestBase {
    */
   function testAddCssFileWithQueryString() {
     $this->drupalGet('common-test/query-string');
-    $query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
     $this->assertRaw(drupal_get_path('module', 'node') . '/node.admin.css?' . $query_string, 'Query string was appended correctly to css.');
     $this->assertRaw(drupal_get_path('module', 'node') . '/node-fake.css?arg1=value1&amp;arg2=value2', 'Query string not escaped on a URI.');
   }
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/JavaScriptTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/JavaScriptTest.php
index 9507e3b..25c5069 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/JavaScriptTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Common/JavaScriptTest.php
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class JavaScriptTest extends WebTestBase {
    * Tests adding external JavaScript Files with the async attribute.
    */
   function testAsyncAttribute() {
-    $default_query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $default_query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
 
     drupal_add_library('system', 'drupal');
     drupal_add_js('http://example.com/script.js', array('async' => TRUE));
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ class JavaScriptTest extends WebTestBase {
    * Tests adding external JavaScript Files with the defer attribute.
    */
   function testDeferAttribute() {
-    $default_query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $default_query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
 
     drupal_add_library('system', 'drupal');
     drupal_add_js('http://example.com/script.js', array('defer' => TRUE));
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ class JavaScriptTest extends WebTestBase {
    * @see drupal_pre_render_conditional_comments()
    */
   function testBrowserConditionalComments() {
-    $default_query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $default_query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
 
     drupal_add_library('system', 'drupal');
     drupal_add_js('core/misc/collapse.js', array('browsers' => array('IE' => 'lte IE 8', '!IE' => FALSE)));
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ class JavaScriptTest extends WebTestBase {
    * Test JavaScript grouping and aggregation.
    */
   function testAggregation() {
-    $default_query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $default_query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
 
     // To optimize aggregation, items with the 'every_page' option are ordered
     // ahead of ones without. The order of JavaScript execution must be the
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ class JavaScriptTest extends WebTestBase {
    */
   function testAddJsFileWithQueryString() {
     $this->drupalGet('common-test/query-string');
-    $query_string = variable_get('css_js_query_string', '0');
+    $query_string = state()->get('css_js_query_string') ?: '0';
     $this->assertRaw(drupal_get_path('module', 'node') . '/node.js?' . $query_string, 'Query string was appended correctly to js.');
   }
 }