diff --git a/core/core.services.yml b/core/core.services.yml
index 0b18c3b..d1223e9 100644
--- a/core/core.services.yml
+++ b/core/core.services.yml
@@ -1197,6 +1197,11 @@ services:
     tags:
       - { name: event_subscriber }
     arguments: ['@config.manager', '@config.storage', '@config.storage.snapshot']
+  exception.needs_installer:
+    class: Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\ExceptionDetectNeedsInstallSubscriber
+    arguments: ['@database']
+    tags:
+      - { name: event_subscriber }
   exception.default_json:
     class: Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\ExceptionJsonSubscriber
     tags:
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php
index 5acd236..38342f9 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php
@@ -1445,6 +1445,26 @@ public function quote($string, $parameter_type = \PDO::PARAM_STR) {
   }
 
   /**
+   * Extracts the SQLSTATE error from the PDOException.
+   *
+   * @param \Exception $e
+   *   The exception
+   *
+   * @return string
+   *   The five character error code.
+   */
+  protected static function getSQLState(\Exception $e) {
+    // The PDOException code is not always reliable, try to see whether the
+    // message has something usable.
+    if (preg_match('/^SQLSTATE\[(\w{5})\]/', $e->getMessage(), $matches)) {
+      return $matches[1];
+    }
+    else {
+      return $e->getCode();
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
    * Prevents the database connection from being serialized.
    */
   public function __sleep() {
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseAccessDeniedException.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseAccessDeniedException.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85bfea9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseAccessDeniedException.php
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\Database;
+
+/**
+ * Exception thrown if access credentials fail.
+ */
+class DatabaseAccessDeniedException extends \RuntimeException implements DatabaseException {}
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseNotFoundException.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseNotFoundException.php
index 63eb9a3..1c5b5eb 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseNotFoundException.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/DatabaseNotFoundException.php
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@
 /**
  * Exception thrown if specified database is not found.
  */
-class DatabaseNotFoundException extends \RuntimeException {}
+class DatabaseNotFoundException extends \RuntimeException implements DatabaseException {}
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php
index df51067..fd46438 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace Drupal\Core\Database\Driver\mysql;
 
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseAccessDeniedException;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseExceptionWrapper;
 
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
@@ -27,6 +28,11 @@ class Connection extends DatabaseConnection {
   const DATABASE_NOT_FOUND = 1049;
 
   /**
+   * Error code for "Access denied" error.
+   */
+  const ACCESS_DENIED = 1045;
+
+  /**
    * Error code for "Can't initialize character set" error.
    */
   const UNSUPPORTED_CHARSET = 2019;
@@ -139,7 +145,18 @@ public static function open(array &$connection_options = array()) {
       $connection_options['pdo'] += [\PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_MULTI_STATEMENTS => FALSE];
     }
 
-    $pdo = new \PDO($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);
+    try {
+      $pdo = new \PDO($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);
+    }
+    catch (\PDOException $e) {
+      if ($e->getCode() == static::DATABASE_NOT_FOUND) {
+        throw new DatabaseNotFoundException($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
+      }
+      if ($e->getCode() == static::ACCESS_DENIED) {
+        throw new DatabaseAccessDeniedException($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
+      }
+      throw $e;
+    }
 
     // Force MySQL to use the UTF-8 character set. Also set the collation, if a
     // certain one has been set; otherwise, MySQL defaults to
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Connection.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Connection.php
index 8049796..570faee 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Connection.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Connection.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection as DatabaseConnection;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseAccessDeniedException;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseNotFoundException;
 
 /**
@@ -27,6 +28,14 @@ class Connection extends DatabaseConnection {
   const DATABASE_NOT_FOUND = 7;
 
   /**
+   * Error code for "Connection failure" errors.
+   *
+   * Technically this is an internal error code that will only be shown in the
+   * PDOException message. It will need to get extracted.
+   */
+  const CONNECTION_FAILURE = '08006';
+
+  /**
    * The list of PostgreSQL reserved key words.
    *
    * @see http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/sql-keywords-appendix.html
@@ -113,7 +122,21 @@ public static function open(array &$connection_options = array()) {
       // Convert numeric values to strings when fetching.
       \PDO::ATTR_STRINGIFY_FETCHES => TRUE,
     );
-    $pdo = new \PDO($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);
+
+    try {
+      $pdo = new \PDO($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);
+    }
+    catch (\PDOException $e) {
+      if (static::getSQLState($e) == static::CONNECTION_FAILURE) {
+        if (strpos($e->getMessage(), 'password authentication failed for user') !== FALSE) {
+          throw new DatabaseAccessDeniedException($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
+        }
+        elseif (strpos($e->getMessage(), 'database') !== FALSE && strpos($e->getMessage(), 'does not exist') !== FALSE) {
+          throw new DatabaseNotFoundException($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
+        }
+      }
+      throw $e;
+    }
 
     return $pdo;
   }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Install/Tasks.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Install/Tasks.php
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 7e78b14..7c85eaf
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Install/Tasks.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/pgsql/Install/Tasks.php
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ protected function connect() {
     }
     catch (\Exception $e) {
       // Attempt to create the database if it is not found.
-      if ($e->getCode() == Connection::DATABASE_NOT_FOUND) {
+      if ($e instanceof DatabaseNotFoundException) {
         // Remove the database string from connection info.
         $connection_info = Database::getConnectionInfo();
         $database = $connection_info['default']['database'];
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/sqlite/Connection.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/sqlite/Connection.php
index 23dd261..f43f04d 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/sqlite/Connection.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/sqlite/Connection.php
@@ -99,7 +99,19 @@ public static function open(array &$connection_options = array()) {
       // Convert numeric values to strings when fetching.
       \PDO::ATTR_STRINGIFY_FETCHES => TRUE,
     );
-    $pdo = new \PDO('sqlite:' . $connection_options['database'], '', '', $connection_options['pdo']);
+
+    try {
+      $pdo = new \PDO('sqlite:' . $connection_options['database'], '', '', $connection_options['pdo']);
+    }
+    catch (\PDOException $e) {
+      if ($e->getCode() == static::DATABASE_NOT_FOUND) {
+        throw new DatabaseNotFoundException($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
+      }
+      // SQLite doesn't have a distinct error code for access denied, so don't
+      // deal with that case.
+      throw $e;
+    }
+
 
     // Create functions needed by SQLite.
     $pdo->sqliteCreateFunction('if', array(__CLASS__, 'sqlFunctionIf'));
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index a132ff1..ab2f645
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/DrupalKernel.php
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 use Drupal\Core\Extension\ExtensionDiscovery;
 use Drupal\Core\File\MimeType\MimeTypeGuesser;
 use Drupal\Core\Http\TrustedHostsRequestFactory;
+use Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerRedirectTrait;
 use Drupal\Core\Language\Language;
 use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 use Drupal\Core\Test\TestDatabase;
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@
  * container, or modify existing services.
  */
 class DrupalKernel implements DrupalKernelInterface, TerminableInterface {
+  use InstallerRedirectTrait;
 
   /**
    * Holds the class used for dumping the container to a PHP array.
@@ -644,7 +646,7 @@ public function handle(Request $request, $type = self::MASTER_REQUEST, $catch =
       // installed yet (i.e., if no $databases array has been defined in the
       // settings.php file) and we are not already installing.
       if (!Database::getConnectionInfo() && !drupal_installation_attempted() && PHP_SAPI !== 'cli') {
-        $response = new RedirectResponse($request->getBasePath() . '/core/install.php');
+        $response = new RedirectResponse($request->getBasePath() . '/core/install.php', 302, ['Cache-Control' => 'no-cache']);
       }
       else {
         $this->boot();
@@ -683,14 +685,17 @@ public function handle(Request $request, $type = self::MASTER_REQUEST, $catch =
    *   If the passed in exception cannot be turned into a response.
    */
   protected function handleException(\Exception $e, $request, $type) {
+    if ($this->shouldRedirectToInstaller($e, $this->container ? $this->container->get('database') : NULL)) {
+      return new RedirectResponse($request->getBasePath() . '/core/install.php', 302, ['Cache-Control' => 'no-cache']);
+    }
+
     if ($e instanceof HttpExceptionInterface) {
       $response = new Response($e->getMessage(), $e->getStatusCode());
       $response->headers->add($e->getHeaders());
       return $response;
     }
-    else {
-      throw $e;
-    }
+
+    throw $e;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ExceptionDetectNeedsInstallSubscriber.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ExceptionDetectNeedsInstallSubscriber.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b974f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/EventSubscriber/ExceptionDetectNeedsInstallSubscriber.php
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber;
+
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection;
+use Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerRedirectTrait;
+use Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface;
+use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\RedirectResponse;
+use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Event\GetResponseForExceptionEvent;
+use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\KernelEvents;
+
+/**
+ * Exception handler to determine if an exception indicates an uninstalled site.
+ */
+class ExceptionDetectNeedsInstallSubscriber implements EventSubscriberInterface {
+  use InstallerRedirectTrait;
+
+  /**
+   * The default database connection.
+   *
+   * @var \Drupal\Core\Database\Connection
+   */
+  protected $connection;
+
+  /**
+   * Constructs a new ExceptionDetectNeedsInstallSubscriber.
+   *
+   * @param \Drupal\Core\Database\Connection $connection
+   *   The default database connection.
+   */
+  public function __construct(Connection $connection) {
+    $this->connection = $connection;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Handles errors for this subscriber.
+   *
+   * @param \Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Event\GetResponseForExceptionEvent $event
+   *   The event to process.
+   */
+  public function onException(GetResponseForExceptionEvent $event) {
+    $exception = $event->getException();
+    if ($this->shouldRedirectToInstaller($exception, $this->connection)) {
+      // Only redirect if this is an HTML response (i.e., a user trying to view
+      // the site in a web browser before installing it).
+      $request = $event->getRequest();
+      $format = $request->query->get(MainContentViewSubscriber::WRAPPER_FORMAT, $request->getRequestFormat());
+      if ($format == 'html') {
+        $event->setResponse(new RedirectResponse($request->getBasePath() . '/core/install.php', 302, ['Cache-Control' => 'no-cache']));
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Registers the methods in this class that should be listeners.
+   *
+   * @return array
+   *   An array of event listener definitions.
+   */
+  public static function getSubscribedEvents() {
+    $events[KernelEvents::EXCEPTION][] = ['onException', 100];
+    return $events;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerRedirectTrait.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerRedirectTrait.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b060b1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Installer/InstallerRedirectTrait.php
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\Installer;
+
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseAccessDeniedException;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseException;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseNotFoundException;
+use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\NotFoundHttpException;
+
+/**
+ * Provides methods for checking if Drupal is already installed.
+ */
+trait InstallerRedirectTrait {
+
+  /**
+   * Returns whether the current PHP process runs on CLI.
+   *
+   * @return bool
+   */
+  protected function isCli() {
+    return PHP_SAPI === 'cli';
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Determines if an exception handler should redirect to the installer.
+   *
+   * @param \Exception $exception
+   *   The exception to check.
+   * @param \Drupal\Core\Database\Connection|null $connection
+   *   (optional) The default database connection. If not provided, a less
+   *   comprehensive check will be performed. This can be the case if the
+   *   exception occurs early enough that a database connection object isn't
+   *   available from the container yet.
+   *
+   * @return bool
+   *   TRUE if the exception handler should redirect to the installer because
+   *   Drupal is not installed yet, or FALSE otherwise.
+   */
+  protected function shouldRedirectToInstaller(\Exception $exception, Connection $connection = NULL) {
+    // Never redirect on the command line.
+    if ($this->isCli()) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+    // Never redirect if we're already in the installer.
+    if (drupal_installation_attempted()) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+    // If the database wasn't found, assume the user hasn't entered it properly
+    // and redirect to the installer. This check needs to come first because a
+    // DatabaseNotFoundException is also an instance of DatabaseException.
+    if ($exception instanceof DatabaseNotFoundException) {
+      return TRUE;
+    }
+
+    // To avoid unnecessary queries, only act if the exception is one that is
+    // expected to occur when Drupal has not yet been installed. This includes
+    // NotFoundHttpException because an uninstalled site won't have route
+    // information available yet and therefore can return 404 errors.
+    if (!($exception instanceof \PDOException || $exception instanceof DatabaseException || $exception instanceof NotFoundHttpException)) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+    // Redirect if there isn't even any database connection information in
+    // settings.php yet, since that means Drupal is not installed.
+    if (!Database::getConnectionInfo()) {
+      return TRUE;
+    }
+
+    // Redirect if the database is empty.
+    if ($connection) {
+      try {
+        return !$connection->schema()->tableExists('sessions');
+      }
+      catch (\Exception $e) {
+        // If we still have an exception at this point, we need to be careful
+        // since we should not redirect if the exception represents an error on
+        // an already-installed site (for example, if the database server went
+        // down). Assume we shouldn't redirect, just in case.
+        return FALSE;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // When in doubt, don't redirect.
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/System/UncaughtExceptionTest.php b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/System/UncaughtExceptionTest.php
index c155781..059d6ad 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/src/Tests/System/UncaughtExceptionTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/src/Tests/System/UncaughtExceptionTest.php
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ public function testLostDatabaseConnection() {
       'value' => $incorrect_username,
       'required' => TRUE,
     );
-    $settings['databases']['default']['default']['passowrd'] = (object) array(
+    $settings['databases']['default']['default']['password'] = (object) array(
       'value' => $this->randomMachineName(16),
       'required' => TRUE,
     );
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ public function testLostDatabaseConnection() {
 
     $this->drupalGet('');
     $this->assertResponse(500);
-    $this->assertRaw('PDOException');
+    $this->assertRaw('DatabaseAccessDeniedException');
     $this->assertErrorLogged($this->expectedExceptionMessage);
   }
 
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Core/Installer/InstallerRedirectTraitTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Core/Installer/InstallerRedirectTraitTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d88a738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Core/Installer/InstallerRedirectTraitTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\Tests\Core\Installer;
+
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseExceptionWrapper;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\DatabaseNotFoundException;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\Schema;
+use Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerRedirectTrait;
+use Drupal\Tests\UnitTestCase;
+use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\NotFoundHttpException;
+
+// The function drupal_installation_attempted() has to be included.
+$root = dirname(dirname(dirname(dirname(dirname(dirname(__DIR__))))));
+require_once $root . '/core/includes/bootstrap.inc';
+
+/**
+ * @coversDefaultClass \Drupal\Core\Installer\InstallerRedirectTrait
+ *
+ * @group Installer
+ */
+class InstallerRedirectTraitTest extends UnitTestCase {
+
+  /**
+   * Data provider for testShouldRedirectToInstaller().
+   *
+   * @return array
+   *   - Expected result from shouldRedirectToInstaller().
+   *   - Exceptions to be handled by shouldRedirectToInstaller()
+   *   - Whether or not there is a database connection.
+   *   - Whether or not there is database connection info.
+   *   - Whether or not there exists a sessions table in the database.
+   */
+  public function providerShouldRedirectToInstaller() {
+    return array(
+      [TRUE, DatabaseNotFoundException::class, FALSE, FALSE],
+      [TRUE, DatabaseNotFoundException::class, TRUE, FALSE],
+      [TRUE, DatabaseNotFoundException::class, FALSE, TRUE],
+      [TRUE, DatabaseNotFoundException::class, TRUE, TRUE],
+      [TRUE, DatabaseNotFoundException::class, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE],
+
+      [TRUE, \PDOException::class, FALSE, FALSE],
+      [TRUE, \PDOException::class, TRUE, FALSE],
+      [FALSE, \PDOException::class, FALSE, TRUE],
+      [FALSE, \PDOException::class, TRUE, TRUE],
+      [TRUE, \PDOException::class, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE],
+
+      [TRUE, DatabaseExceptionWrapper::class, FALSE, FALSE],
+      [TRUE, DatabaseExceptionWrapper::class, TRUE, FALSE],
+      [FALSE, DatabaseExceptionWrapper::class, FALSE, TRUE],
+      [FALSE, DatabaseExceptionWrapper::class, TRUE, TRUE],
+      [TRUE, DatabaseExceptionWrapper::class, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE],
+
+      [TRUE, NotFoundHttpException::class, FALSE, FALSE],
+      [TRUE, NotFoundHttpException::class, TRUE, FALSE],
+      [FALSE, NotFoundHttpException::class, FALSE, TRUE],
+      [FALSE, NotFoundHttpException::class, TRUE, TRUE],
+      [TRUE, NotFoundHttpException::class, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE],
+
+      [FALSE, \Exception::class, FALSE, FALSE],
+      [FALSE, \Exception::class, TRUE, FALSE],
+      [FALSE, \Exception::class, FALSE, TRUE],
+      [FALSE, \Exception::class, TRUE, TRUE],
+      [FALSE, \Exception::class, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE],
+    );
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @covers ::shouldRedirectToInstaller
+   * @dataProvider providerShouldRedirectToInstaller
+   */
+  function testShouldRedirectToInstaller($expected, $exception, $connection, $connection_info, $session_table_exists = TRUE) {
+    try {
+      throw new $exception();
+    }
+    catch (\Exception $e) {
+      // Mock the trait.
+      $trait = $this->getMockBuilder(InstallerRedirectTrait::class)
+        ->setMethods(array('isCli'))
+        ->getMockForTrait();
+
+      // Make sure that the method thinks we are not using the cli.
+      $trait->expects($this->any())
+        ->method('isCli')
+        ->willReturn(FALSE);
+
+      // Un-protect the method using reflection.
+      $method_ref = new \ReflectionMethod($trait, 'shouldRedirectToInstaller');
+      $method_ref->setAccessible(TRUE);
+
+      // Mock the database connection info.
+      $db = $this->getMockForAbstractClass(Database::class);
+      $property_ref = new \ReflectionProperty($db, 'databaseInfo');
+      $property_ref->setAccessible(true);
+      $property_ref->setValue($db, ['default' => $connection_info]);
+
+      if ($connection) {
+        // Mock the database connection.
+        $connection = $this->getMockBuilder(Connection::class)
+          ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+          ->setMethods(array('schema'))
+          ->getMockForAbstractClass();
+
+        if ($connection_info) {
+          // Mock the database schema class.
+          $schema = $this->getMockBuilder(Schema::class)
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->setMethods(array('tableExists'))
+            ->getMockForAbstractClass();
+
+          $schema->expects($this->any())
+            ->method('tableExists')
+            ->with('sessions')
+            ->willReturn($session_table_exists);
+
+          $connection->expects($this->any())
+            ->method('schema')
+            ->willReturn($schema);
+        }
+      }
+      else {
+        // Set the database connection if there is none.
+        $connection = NULL;
+      }
+
+      // Call shouldRedirectToInstaller.
+      $this->assertSame($expected, $method_ref->invoke($trait, $e, $connection));
+    }
+  }
+
+}