diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php
index 44de504..090dcba 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php
@@ -24,6 +24,21 @@ class Tasks extends InstallTasks {
   protected $pdoDriver = 'mysql';
 
   /**
+   * Constructs a \Drupal\Core\Database\Driver\mysql\Install\Tasks object.
+   */
+  public function __construct() {
+    $this->tasks[] = array(
+      'arguments' => array(
+        'SET NAMES utf8mb4',
+        t('%driver supports utf8mb4 character encoding.'),
+        t('%driver must support utf8mb4 character encoding to work with Drupal. Make sure to use a database system that supports utf8mb4 character encoding, such as MySQL/MariaDB/Percona versions 5.5.3 and up.', array(
+          '%driver' => $this->name(),
+        )),
+      ),
+    );
+  }
+
+  /**
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
   public function name() {
@@ -34,7 +49,8 @@ public function name() {
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
   public function minimumVersion() {
-    return '5.1.21';
+    // The MySQL driver does feature checks only.
+    return NULL;
   }
 
   /**