diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/DatabaseStorage.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/DatabaseStorage.php
index aa0e022..b7673f3 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/DatabaseStorage.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/DatabaseStorage.php
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection;
+use Drupal\Core\Database\SchemaObjectExistsException;
 
 /**
  * Defines the Database storage.
@@ -56,9 +57,18 @@ public function __construct(Connection $connection, $table, array $options = arr
    * Implements Drupal\Core\Config\StorageInterface::exists().
    */
   public function exists($name) {
-    return (bool) $this->connection->queryRange('SELECT 1 FROM {' . $this->connection->escapeTable($this->table) . '} WHERE name = :name', 0, 1, array(
-      ':name' => $name,
-    ), $this->options)->fetchField();
+    // There are situations, like in the installer, where we may attempt a
+    // read without actually having the database available. In this case,
+    // catch the exception and just return an empty array so the caller can
+    // handle it if need be.
+    try {
+      return (bool) $this->connection->queryRange('SELECT 1 FROM {' . $this->connection->escapeTable($this->table) . '} WHERE name = :name', 0, 1, array(
+        ':name' => $name,
+      ), $this->options)->fetchField();
+    }
+    catch (\Exception $e) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
   }
 
   /**
@@ -72,8 +82,7 @@ public function read($name) {
     $data = FALSE;
     // There are situations, like in the installer, where we may attempt a
     // read without actually having the database available. In this case,
-    // catch the exception and just return an empty array so the caller can
-    // handle it if need be.
+    // catch the exception and just return FALSE so the caller can handle it.
     try {
       $raw = $this->connection->query('SELECT data FROM {' . $this->connection->escapeTable($this->table) . '} WHERE name = :name', array(':name' => $name), $this->options)->fetchField();
       if ($raw !== FALSE) {
@@ -100,7 +109,7 @@ public function readMultiple(array $names) {
         $data = $this->decode($data);
       }
     }
-    catch (Exception $e) {
+    catch (\Exception $e) {
     }
     return $list;
   }
@@ -114,6 +123,30 @@ public function readMultiple(array $names) {
    */
   public function write($name, array $data) {
     $data = $this->encode($data);
+    try {
+      return $this->doWrite($name, $data);
+    }
+    catch (\Exception $e) {
+      // If there was an exception, try to create the table.
+      if ($this->ensureTableExists()) {
+        return $this->doWrite($name, $data);
+      }
+      // Some other failure that we can not recover from.
+      throw $e;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Helper method so we can re-try a write.
+   *
+   * @param string $name
+   *   The config name.
+   * @param string $data
+   *   The config data, already dumped to a string.
+   *
+   * @return bool
+   */
+  protected function doWrite($name, $data) {
     $options = array('return' => Database::RETURN_AFFECTED) + $this->options;
     return (bool) $this->connection->merge($this->table, $options)
       ->key('name', $name)
@@ -122,6 +155,56 @@ public function write($name, array $data) {
   }
 
   /**
+   * Check if the config table exists and create it if not.
+   *
+   * @return bool
+   *   TRUE if the table was created, FALSE otherwise.
+   *
+   * @throws PDOException
+   */
+  protected function ensureTableExists()  {
+    try {
+      if (!$this->connection->schema()->tableExists($this->table)) {
+        $this->connection->schema()->createTable($this->table, static::schemaDefinition());
+        return TRUE;
+      }
+    }
+    // If another process has already created the config table, attempting to
+    // recreate it will throw an exception. In this case just catch the
+    // exception and do nothing.
+    catch (SchemaObjectExistsException $e) {
+      return TRUE;
+    }
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Defines the schema for the configuration table.
+   */
+  public static function schemaDefinition() {
+    $schema = array(
+      'description' => 'The base table for configuration data.',
+      'fields' => array(
+        'name' => array(
+          'description' => 'Primary Key: Unique config object name.',
+          'type' => 'varchar',
+          'length' => 255,
+          'not null' => TRUE,
+          'default' => '',
+        ),
+        'data' => array(
+          'description' => 'A serialized configuration object data.',
+          'type' => 'blob',
+          'not null' => FALSE,
+          'size' => 'big',
+        ),
+      ),
+      'primary key' => array('name'),
+    );
+    return $schema;
+  }
+
+  /**
    * Implements Drupal\Core\Config\StorageInterface::delete().
    *
    * @throws PDOException
@@ -175,9 +258,18 @@ public function decode($raw) {
    *   Only thrown in case $this->options['throw_exception'] is TRUE.
    */
   public function listAll($prefix = '') {
-    return $this->connection->query('SELECT name FROM {' . $this->connection->escapeTable($this->table) . '} WHERE name LIKE :name', array(
-      ':name' => $this->connection->escapeLike($prefix) . '%',
-    ), $this->options)->fetchCol();
+    // There are situations, like in the installer, where we may attempt a
+    // read without actually having the database available. In this case,
+    // catch the exception and just return an empty array so the caller can
+    // handle it if need be.
+    try {
+      return $this->connection->query('SELECT name FROM {' . $this->connection->escapeTable($this->table) . '} WHERE name LIKE :name', array(
+        ':name' => $this->connection->escapeLike($prefix) . '%',
+      ), $this->options)->fetchCol();
+    }
+    catch (\Exception $e) {
+      return array();
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/modules/config/lib/Drupal/config/Form/ConfigSingleImportForm.php b/core/modules/config/lib/Drupal/config/Form/ConfigSingleImportForm.php
index 7b3643c..fd7be56 100644
--- a/core/modules/config/lib/Drupal/config/Form/ConfigSingleImportForm.php
+++ b/core/modules/config/lib/Drupal/config/Form/ConfigSingleImportForm.php
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ class ConfigSingleImportForm extends ConfirmFormBase {
    *   The entity manager.
    * @param \Drupal\Core\Config\StorageInterface $config_storage
    *   The config storage.
-   * @param \Symfony\Component\Yaml\Parser $parser
-   *   The yaml dumper.
+   * @param \Symfony\Component\Yaml\Yaml $yaml
+   *   The YAML component.
    */
   public function __construct(EntityManagerInterface $entity_manager, StorageInterface $config_storage, Yaml $yaml) {
     $this->entityManager = $entity_manager;
diff --git a/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/DrupalUnitTestBase.php b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/DrupalUnitTestBase.php
index 93108a4..2be5b37 100644
--- a/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/DrupalUnitTestBase.php
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/DrupalUnitTestBase.php
@@ -103,15 +103,9 @@ protected function beforePrepareEnvironment() {
    *
    * @see config_get_config_directory()
    */
-  protected function prepareConfigStorage() {
+  protected function prepareConfigDirectories() {
     $this->configDirectories = array();
     include_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/core/includes/install.inc';
-    // Create the configuration table.
-    module_load_install('system');
-    $schema = system_schema();
-    // We use a different table name here and in the container to avoid
-    // exceptions when system module is installed.
-    Database::getConnection()->schema()->createTable('test_base_config', $schema['config']);
     foreach (array(CONFIG_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY, CONFIG_STAGING_DIRECTORY) as $type) {
       // Assign the relative path to the global variable.
       $path = $this->siteDirectory . '/config_' . $type;
@@ -133,6 +127,9 @@ protected function setUp() {
 
     parent::setUp();
 
+    // Create and set new configuration directories.
+    $this->prepareConfigDirectories();
+
     // Build a minimal, partially mocked environment for unit tests.
     $this->containerBuild(\Drupal::getContainer());
     // Make sure it survives kernel rebuilds.
@@ -140,8 +137,7 @@ protected function setUp() {
 
     \Drupal::state()->set('system.module.files', $this->moduleFiles);
     \Drupal::state()->set('system.theme.files', $this->themeFiles);
-    // Create and set new configuration directories.
-    $this->prepareConfigStorage();
+
     // Bootstrap the kernel.
     // No need to dump it; this test runs in-memory.
     $this->kernel = new DrupalKernel('unit_testing', drupal_classloader(), FALSE);
@@ -231,7 +227,7 @@ public function containerBuild(ContainerBuilder $container) {
     $container
       ->register('config.storage', 'Drupal\Core\Config\DatabaseStorage')
       ->addArgument(Database::getConnection())
-      ->addArgument('test_base_config');
+      ->addArgument('config');
 
     $this->settingsSet('keyvalue_default', 'keyvalue.memory');
     $container->set('keyvalue.memory', $this->keyValueFactory);
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/DrupalKernel/DrupalKernelTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/DrupalKernel/DrupalKernelTest.php
index 3e5e9a4..aaf9612 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/DrupalKernel/DrupalKernelTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/DrupalKernel/DrupalKernelTest.php
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ function setUp() {
     // invoke DrupalUnitTestBase::setUp(), since that would set up further
     // environment aspects, which would distort this test, because it tests
     // the DrupalKernel (re-)building itself.
-    $this->prepareConfigStorage();
+    $this->prepareConfigDirectories();
 
     $this->settingsSet('php_storage', array('service_container' => array(
       'bin' => 'service_container',
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.install b/core/modules/system/system.install
index 0bd1942..ca5d128 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -970,25 +970,7 @@ function system_schema() {
       'source_langcode_pid' => array('source', 'langcode', 'pid'),
     ),
   );
-  $schema['config'] = array(
-    'description' => 'The base table for configuration data.',
-    'fields' => array(
-      'name' => array(
-        'description' => 'Primary Key: Unique config object name.',
-        'type' => 'varchar',
-        'length' => 255,
-        'not null' => TRUE,
-        'default' => '',
-      ),
-      'data' => array(
-        'description' => 'A serialized configuration object data.',
-        'type' => 'blob',
-        'not null' => FALSE,
-        'size' => 'big',
-      ),
-    ),
-    'primary key' => array('name'),
-  );
+
   $schema['config_snapshot'] = array(
     'description' => 'Stores a snapshot of the last imported configuration.',
     'fields' => array(