diff --git a/core/includes/install.core.inc b/core/includes/install.core.inc
index 6e9636f..4b21b6c 100644
--- a/core/includes/install.core.inc
+++ b/core/includes/install.core.inc
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@
 use Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseExceptionWrapper;
+use Drupal\Core\Extension\InfoParser;
 use Drupal\Core\Form\FormState;
 use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\AlreadyInstalledException;
 use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\InstallerException;
 use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\NoProfilesException;
-use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\TooManyDistributionsException;
 use Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerKernel;
 use Drupal\Core\Language\Language;
 use Drupal\Core\Language\LanguageManager;
@@ -1214,14 +1214,20 @@ function _install_select_profile(&$install_state) {
     }
   }
   // Check for a distribution. If the site has more than one distribution force
-  // the user to choose which will ensure that settings.php has to be written.
-  try {
-    if ($distribution = \Drupal::service('kernel')->getDistribution()) {
-      return $distribution;
+  // the user to choose.
+  $listing = new ExtensionDiscovery(\Drupal::root());
+  $listing->setProfileDirectories([]);
+  $info_parser = new InfoParser();
+  $distributions = [];
+  foreach ($listing->scan('profile') as $profile) {
+    $info = $info_parser->parse($profile->getPathname());
+    if (!empty($info['distribution'])) {
+      $distributions[] = $profile->getName();
     }
   }
-  catch (TooManyDistributionsException $e) {
-    // The user must choose.
+  // If there is only one distribution then use it.
+  if (count($distributions) === 1) {
+    return reset($distributions);
   }
 
   // Get all visible (not hidden) profiles.
@@ -2174,34 +2180,20 @@ function install_display_requirements($install_state, $requirements) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Installation task; writes profile to settings.php (absent a distribution).
+ * Installation task; writes profile to settings.php if possible.
  *
  * @param array $install_state
  *   An array of information about the current installation state.
  *
  * @see _install_select_profile()
+ *
+ * @deprecated in Drupal 8.3.0 and will be removed before Drupal 9.0.0. The
+ *    install profile is written to core.extension.
  */
 function install_write_profile($install_state) {
-  $settings_value = Settings::get('install_profile');
-  // We need to write to settings.php if the value in settings.php does not
-  // equal the selected profile.
-  $need_to_write = $settings_value !== $install_state['parameters']['profile'];
-  // However, if we're dealing with a distribution and the profile is not
-  // writable do not write the value to settings.php if the current value is not
-  // set.
-  $distribution = FALSE;
-  try {
-    $distribution = \Drupal::service('kernel')->getDistribution();
-  }
-  catch (TooManyDistributionsException $e) {
-    // The user will have chosen.
-  }
-
-  if ($settings_value == '' && $distribution && !is_writable(\Drupal::service('site.path') . '/settings.php')) {
-    $need_to_write = FALSE;
-  }
-
-  if ($need_to_write) {
+  // Only need to write to settings.php if it is possible. The primary storage
+  // for the install profile is the core.extension configuration.
+  if (is_writable(\Drupal::service('site.path') . '/settings.php')) {
     // Remember the profile which was used.
     $settings['settings']['install_profile'] = (object) array(
       'value' => $install_state['parameters']['profile'],
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal.php b/core/lib/Drupal.php
index b7865b3..9670d78 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal.php
@@ -190,12 +190,13 @@ public static function root() {
    */
   public static function installProfile() {
     if (static::hasContainer()) {
-      return static::getContainer()->getParameter('install_profile');
+      $profile = static::getContainer()->getParameter('install_profile');
     }
     else {
       $config_storage = BootstrapConfigStorageFactory::getDatabaseStorage();
-      return $config_storage->read('core.extension')['profile'];
+      $profile = $config_storage->read('core.extension')['profile'];
     }
+    return empty($profile) ? NULL : $profile;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php
index f1fc596..92e5181 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php
@@ -14,10 +14,8 @@
 use Drupal\Core\DependencyInjection\ServiceProviderInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\DependencyInjection\YamlFileLoader;
 use Drupal\Core\Extension\ExtensionDiscovery;
-use Drupal\Core\Extension\InfoParser;
 use Drupal\Core\File\MimeType\MimeTypeGuesser;
 use Drupal\Core\Http\TrustedHostsRequestFactory;
-use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\TooManyDistributionsException;
 use Drupal\Core\Language\Language;
 use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 use Symfony\Cmf\Component\Routing\RouteObjectInterface;
@@ -1513,56 +1511,16 @@ protected function addServiceFiles(array $service_yamls) {
    *   The name of the any active install profile or distribution.
    */
   protected function getInstallProfile() {
-    $install_profile = Settings::get('install_profile');
+    $config = $this->getConfigStorage()->read('core.extension');
+    // Ensure empty strings are NULLs.
+    $install_profile = empty($config['profile']) ? NULL : $config['profile'];
 
-    if (empty($install_profile) && ($config = $this->getConfigStorage()->read('core.extension')) && isset($config['profile'])) {
-      $install_profile = $config['profile'];
+    // If system_update_8300() has not yet run fallback to using settings.
+    if (empty($install_profile)) {
+      $install_profile = Settings::get('install_profile');
     }
-    elseif (empty($install_profile)) {
-      $install_profile = $this->getDistribution();
-    }
-    return $install_profile;
-  }
 
-  /**
-   * Get the name of any discovered profile that is a distribution.
-   *
-   * Scans the filesystem looking for all installation profiles. Returns the one
-   * that has a 'distribution' entry in its info.yml file. If multiple profiles
-   * are distributions, an exception will be thrown.
-   *
-   * This is used in two places:
-   *  1) During installation, if there is a single distribution, then
-   *     the installer will not write the installation profile name
-   *     to settings.php.
-   *  2) Whenever DrupalKernel::getInstallProfile() is called, if there
-   *     is no installation profile name noted in settings.php, then
-   *     it will call this function to determine the distribution
-   *     to use.
-   *
-   * @return string|FALSE
-   *   The machine name of any discovered distribution. FALSE if there are no
-   *   distributions.
-   *
-   * @throws \Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\TooManyDistributionsException
-   *   Thrown when a site has more than one distribution installation profile.
-   */
-  protected function getDistribution() {
-    $listing = new ExtensionDiscovery($this->root);
-    $listing->setProfileDirectories([]);
-    $info_parser = new InfoParser();
-    $distributions = [];
-    foreach ($listing->scan('profile') as $profile) {
-      $info = $info_parser->parse($profile->getPathname());
-      if (!empty($info['distribution'])) {
-        $distributions[] = $profile->getName();
-      }
-    }
-    // There can be only one.
-    if (count($distributions) > 1) {
-      throw new TooManyDistributionsException('A site can only have one distribution, multiple installation profiles discovered: ' . implode(', ', $distributions));
-    }
-    return reset($distributions);
+    return $install_profile;
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ConfigImportSubscriber.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ConfigImportSubscriber.php
index ad2eb5e..24b4c70 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ConfigImportSubscriber.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ConfigImportSubscriber.php
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 use Drupal\Core\Config\ConfigImportValidateEventSubscriberBase;
 use Drupal\Core\Config\ConfigNameException;
 use Drupal\Core\Extension\ThemeHandlerInterface;
-use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 
 /**
  * Config import subscriber for config import events.
@@ -112,9 +111,10 @@ protected function validateModules(ConfigImporter $config_importer) {
       }
     }
 
-    // Settings is safe to use because settings.php is written before any module
-    // is installed.
-    $install_profile = Settings::get('install_profile');
+    // Get the install profile from the site's configuration.
+    $current_core_extension = $config_importer->getStorageComparer()->getTargetStorage()->read('core.extension');
+    $install_profile = isset($current_core_extension['profile']) ? $current_core_extension['profile'] : NULL;
+
     // Ensure that all modules being uninstalled are not required by modules
     // that will be installed after the import.
     $uninstalls = $config_importer->getExtensionChangelist('module', 'uninstall');
@@ -129,10 +129,15 @@ protected function validateModules(ConfigImporter $config_importer) {
     }
 
     // Ensure that the install profile is not being uninstalled.
-    if (in_array($install_profile, $uninstalls)) {
+    if (in_array($install_profile, $uninstalls, TRUE)) {
       $profile_name = $module_data[$install_profile]->info['name'];
       $config_importer->logError($this->t('Unable to uninstall the %profile profile since it is the install profile.', array('%profile' => $profile_name)));
     }
+
+    // Ensure the profile is not changing.
+    if ($install_profile !== $core_extension['profile']) {
+      $config_importer->logError($this->t('Cannot change the install profile from %new_profile to %profile once Drupal is installed.', array('%profile' => $install_profile, '%new_profile' => $core_extension['profile'])));
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerKernel.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerKernel.php
index 55e8af6..adeb5c5 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerKernel.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerKernel.php
@@ -66,11 +66,4 @@ public function getInstallProfile() {
     return $profile;
   }
 
-  /**
-   * {@inheritdoc}
-   */
-  public function getDistribution() {
-    return parent::getDistribution();
-  }
-
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/simpletest/src/KernelTestBase.php b/core/modules/simpletest/src/KernelTestBase.php
index 96c5cf6..4a50c43 100644
--- a/core/modules/simpletest/src/KernelTestBase.php
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/src/KernelTestBase.php
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ protected function setUp() {
     // \Drupal\Core\Config\ConfigInstaller::installDefaultConfig() to work.
     // Write directly to active storage to avoid early instantiation of
     // the event dispatcher which can prevent modules from registering events.
-    \Drupal::service('config.storage')->write('core.extension', array('module' => array(), 'theme' => array()));
+    \Drupal::service('config.storage')->write('core.extension', array('module' => array(), 'theme' => array(), 'profile' => ''));
 
     // Collect and set a fixed module list.
     $class = get_class($this);
diff --git a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileExistingSettingsTest.php b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileExistingSettingsTest.php
index bb73472..2fe5d4f 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileExistingSettingsTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileExistingSettingsTest.php
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 use Drupal\Component\Serialization\Yaml;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
 use Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel;
-use Drupal\Core\Extension\ExtensionDiscovery;
-use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\TooManyDistributionsException;
 use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 use Drupal\simpletest\InstallerTestBase;
 use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
@@ -124,44 +122,11 @@ public function testInstalled() {
     // Confirm that Drupal recognizes this distribution as the current profile.
     $this->assertEqual(\Drupal::installProfile(), 'mydistro');
     $this->assertNull(Settings::get('install_profile'), 'The install profile has not been written to settings.php.');
+    $this->assertEqual($this->config('core.extension')->get('profile'), 'mydistro', 'The install profile has been written to core.extension configuration.');
 
     $this->rebuildContainer();
     $this->pass('Container can be rebuilt even though distribution is not written to settings.php.');
-
-    // Create another installation profile which is a distribution.
-    $info = [
-      'type' => 'profile',
-      'core' => \Drupal::CORE_COMPATIBILITY,
-      'name' => 'Distribution profile 2',
-      'distribution' => [
-        'name' => 'My Distribution 2',
-        'install' => [
-          'theme' => 'bartik',
-        ],
-      ],
-    ];
-    // File API functions are not available yet.
-    $path = $this->siteDirectory . '/profiles/mydistro2';
-    mkdir($path, 0777, TRUE);
-    file_put_contents("$path/mydistro2.info.yml", Yaml::encode($info));
-
-    // Ensure that no install profile is configured yet.
-    \Drupal::configFactory()->getEditable('core.extension')
-      ->set('profile', NULL)
-      ->save();
-
-    // Test that a site will multiple distributions will get an exception when
-    // rebuilding the container. In order to do this we need to reset the
-    // discovered files in ExtensionDiscovery.
-    try {
-      ExtensionDiscovery::reset();
-      $this->rebuildContainer();
-      $this->fail('TooManyDistributionsException exception thrown.');
-    }
-    catch (TooManyDistributionsException $e) {
-      $this->pass('TooManyDistributionsException exception thrown.');
-      $this->assertEqual('A site can only have one distribution, multiple installation profiles discovered: mydistro, mydistro2', $e->getMessage());
-    }
+    $this->assertEqual(\Drupal::installProfile(), 'mydistro');
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileTest.php b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileTest.php
index 01e25e6..569fe36 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/DistributionProfileTest.php
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ public function testInstalled() {
     // Confirm that Drupal recognizes this distribution as the current profile.
     $this->assertEqual(\Drupal::installProfile(), 'mydistro');
     $this->assertEqual(Settings::get('install_profile'), 'mydistro', 'The install profile has been written to settings.php.');
+    $this->assertEqual($this->config('core.extension')->get('profile'), 'mydistro', 'The install profile has been written to core.extension configuration.');
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/MultipleDistributionsProfileTest.php b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/MultipleDistributionsProfileTest.php
index 4ac889e..0dab57f 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/MultipleDistributionsProfileTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/Installer/MultipleDistributionsProfileTest.php
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 namespace Drupal\system\Tests\Installer;
 
 use Drupal\Component\Serialization\Yaml;
-use Drupal\Core\Extension\ExtensionDiscovery;
-use Drupal\Core\Installer\Exception\TooManyDistributionsException;
 use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 use Drupal\simpletest\InstallerTestBase;
 
@@ -83,27 +81,11 @@ public function testInstalled() {
     // Confirm that Drupal recognizes this distribution as the current profile.
     $this->assertEqual(\Drupal::installProfile(), 'distribution_one');
     $this->assertEqual(Settings::get('install_profile'), 'distribution_one', 'The install profile has been written to settings.php.');
+    $this->assertEqual($this->config('core.extension')->get('profile'), 'distribution_one', 'The install profile has been written to core.extension configuration.');
 
-    // Test that a site will multiple distributions will get an exception when
-    // calling \Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel::getDistribution().
-    try {
-      $kernel = $this->container->get('kernel');
-      // getDistribution() is protected in the DrupalKernel class.
-      // Call setAccessible(TRUE) so that we can call it to test its behavior.
-      $getDistributionMethod = new \ReflectionMethod($kernel, 'getDistribution');
-      $getDistributionMethod->setAccessible(TRUE);
-      $getDistributionMethod->invokeArgs($kernel, array());
-      $this->fail('TooManyDistributionsException exception thrown.');
-    }
-    catch (TooManyDistributionsException $e) {
-      $this->pass('TooManyDistributionsException exception thrown.');
-    }
-    // To mirror the test in DistributionProfileExistingSettingsTest we reset
-    // the discovered files in ExtensionDiscovery.
-    // @see \Drupal\system\Tests\Installer\DistributionProfileExistingSettingsTest::testInstalled()
-    ExtensionDiscovery::reset();
     $this->rebuildContainer();
-    $this->pass('Container can be rebuilt as distribution is written to settings.php.');
+    $this->pass('Container can be rebuilt as distribution is written to configuration.');
+    $this->assertEqual(\Drupal::installProfile(), 'distribution_one');
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Config/ConfigImporterTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Config/ConfigImporterTest.php
index 945e994..bde5644 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Config/ConfigImporterTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Config/ConfigImporterTest.php
@@ -669,6 +669,34 @@ public function testInstallProfile() {
   }
 
   /**
+   * Tests install profile validation during configuration import.
+   *
+   * @see \Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\ConfigImportSubscriber
+   */
+  public function testInstallProfileMisMatch() {
+    $sync = $this->container->get('config.storage.sync');
+
+    $extensions = $sync->read('core.extension');
+    // Change the install profile.
+    $extensions['profile'] = 'this_will_not_work';
+    $sync->write('core.extension', $extensions);
+
+    try {
+      $this->configImporter->reset()->import();
+      $this->fail('ConfigImporterException not thrown; an invalid import was not stopped due to missing dependencies.');
+    }
+    catch (ConfigImporterException $e) {
+      $this->assertEqual($e->getMessage(), 'There were errors validating the config synchronization.');
+      $error_log = $this->configImporter->getErrors();
+      // Install profiles can not be changed. Note that KernelTestBase currently
+      // does not use an install profile. This situation should be impossible
+      // to get in but site's can removed the install profile setting from
+      // settings.php so the test is valid.
+      $this->assertEqual(['Cannot change the install profile from <em class="placeholder">this_will_not_work</em> to <em class="placeholder"></em> once Drupal is installed.'], $error_log);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
    * Tests config_get_config_directory().
    */
   public function testConfigGetConfigDirectory() {
diff --git a/sites/default/default.settings.php b/sites/default/default.settings.php
index 94a1e04..ffcaaba 100644
--- a/sites/default/default.settings.php
+++ b/sites/default/default.settings.php
@@ -270,6 +270,11 @@
  * by the user.
  *
  * @see install_select_profile()
+ *
+ * @deprecated in Drupal 8.3.0 and will be removed before Drupal 9.0.0. The
+ *   install profile is written to the core.extension confoguration. If a
+ *   service requires the install profile use the 'install_profile' container
+ *   parameter. Functional code can use \Drupal::installProfile().
  */
 # $settings['install_profile'] = '';