diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Connection.php
@@ -1153,13 +1153,6 @@
   }
 
   /**
-   * Returns the version of the database client.
-   */
-  public function clientVersion() {
-    return $this->connection->getAttribute(\PDO::ATTR_CLIENT_VERSION);
-  }
-
-  /**
    * Determines if this driver supports transactions.
    *
    * @return
@@ -1224,6 +1217,13 @@
   }
 
   /**
+   * Returns the version of the database client.
+   */
+  public function clientVersion() {
+    return $this->connection->getAttribute(\PDO::ATTR_CLIENT_VERSION);
+  }
+
+  /**
    * Determines if this driver supports transactions.
    *
    * @return bool
reverted:
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Database.php
+++ a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Database.php
@@ -40,15 +40,6 @@
   const RETURN_INSERT_ID = 3;
 
   /**
-   * Flag to indicate whether the MySQL DSN charset should fall back to utf8.
-   *
-   * Used in installer version checks.
-   *
-   * @var boolean
-   */
-  static protected $mysql_dsn_utf8_fallback = FALSE;
-
-  /**
    * An nested array of all active connections. It is keyed by database name
    * and target.
    *
@@ -150,12 +141,6 @@
     return $queries;
   }
 
-  final public static getConnectionWithUtf8Dsn($target = 'default', $key = NULL) {
-    self::$mysql_dsn_utf8_fallback = TRUE;
-    self::getConnection($target, $key);
-    self::$mysql_dsn_utf8_fallback = FALSE;
-  }
-
   /**
    * Gets the connection object for the specified database key and target.
    *
@@ -393,11 +378,7 @@
       $driver_class = "Drupal\\Core\\Database\\Driver\\{$driver}\\Connection";
     }
 
+    $pdo_connection = $driver_class::open(self::$databaseInfo[$key][$target]);
-    $connection_options = self::$databaseInfo[$key][$target];
-    if ($driver == 'mysql' && self::$mysql_dsn_utf8_fallback === TRUE) {
-      $connection_options += array('mysql_dsn_utf8_fallback' => TRUE);
-    }
-    $pdo_connection = $driver_class::open($connection_options);
     $new_connection = new $driver_class($pdo_connection, self::$databaseInfo[$key][$target]);
     $new_connection->setTarget($target);
     $new_connection->setKey($key);
diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Connection.php
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@
   protected $needsCleanup = FALSE;
 
   /**
+   * Flag to indicate whether the MySQL DSN charset should fall back to utf8.
+   *
+   * Should be used in installer version checks only.
+   *
+   * @var boolean
+   */
+  static public $dsnUtf8Fallback = FALSE;
+
+  /**
    * The minimal possible value for the max_allowed_packet setting of MySQL.
    *
    * @link https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb/server-system-variables/#max_allowed_packet
@@ -69,12 +78,7 @@
     // Character set is added to dsn to ensure PDO uses the proper character
     // set when escaping. This has security implications. See
     // https://www.drupal.org/node/1201452 for further discussion.
-    if (empty($connection_options['mysql_dsn_utf8_fallback'])) {
-      $dsn .= ';charset=utf8mb4';
-    }
-    else {
-      $dsn .= ';charset=utf8';
-    }
+    $dsn .= ';charset=utf8mb4';
     if (!empty($connection_options['database'])) {
       $dsn .= ';dbname=' . $connection_options['database'];
     }
@@ -92,6 +96,13 @@
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
   public static function open(array &$connection_options = array()) {
+    if (static::$dsnUtf8Fallback === TRUE) {
+      // Only used during the installer version check, as a fallback from utf8mb4.
+      $charset = 'utf8';
+    }
+    else {
+      $charset = 'utf8mb4';
+    }
     // The DSN should use either a socket or a host/port.
     if (isset($connection_options['unix_socket'])) {
       $dsn = 'mysql:unix_socket=' . $connection_options['unix_socket'];
@@ -103,7 +114,13 @@
     // Character set is added to dsn to ensure PDO uses the proper character
     // set when escaping. This has security implications. See
     // https://www.drupal.org/node/1201452 for further discussion.
-    $dsn .= ';charset=utf8mb4';
+    if (static::$dsnUtf8Fallback === TRUE) {
+      // Only used during the installer version check, as a fallback from utf8mb4.
+      $dsn .= ';charset=' . $charset;
+    }
+    else {
+      $dsn .= ';charset=' . $charset;
+    }
     if (!empty($connection_options['database'])) {
       $dsn .= ';dbname=' . $connection_options['database'];
     }
@@ -134,10 +151,10 @@
     // certain one has been set; otherwise, MySQL defaults to
     // 'utf8mb4_general_ci' for utf8mb4.
     if (!empty($connection_options['collation'])) {
-      $pdo->exec('SET NAMES utf8mb4 COLLATE ' . $connection_options['collation']);
+      $pdo->exec('SET NAMES ' . $charset . ' COLLATE ' . $connection_options['collation']);
     }
     else {
-      $pdo->exec('SET NAMES utf8mb4');
+      $pdo->exec('SET NAMES ' . $charset);
     }
 
     // Set MySQL init_commands if not already defined.  Default Drupal's MySQL
diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Driver/mysql/Install/Tasks.php
@@ -16,6 +16,17 @@
  * Specifies installation tasks for MySQL and equivalent databases.
  */
 class Tasks extends InstallTasks {
+
+  /**
+   * Minimum required MySQLnd version.
+   */
+  const MYSQLND_MINIMUM_VERSION = '5.0.9';
+
+  /**
+   * Minimum required libmysqlclient version.
+   */
+  const LIBMYSQLCLIENT_MINIMUM_VERSION = '5.5.3';
+
   /**
    * The PDO driver name for MySQL and equivalent databases.
    *
@@ -62,7 +73,9 @@
         // Detect utf8mb4 incompability.
         if ($e->getCode() == Connection::UNSUPPORTED_CHARSET) {
           $this->fail(t('Your mysql server and PHP mysql driver must support utf8mb4 character encoding to work with Drupal. Make sure to use a database system that supports utf8mb4 character encoding, such as MySQL/MariaDB/Percona versions 5.5.3 and up, and that the utf8mb4 character set is compiled in. See the <a href="@documentation" target="_blank">MySQL documentation</a> for more information.', array('@documentation' => 'https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/cannot-initialize-character-set.html')));
-          Database::getConnectionWithUtf8Dsn();
+          Connection::$dsnUtf8Fallback = TRUE;
+          Database::getConnection();
+          Connection::$dsnUtf8Fallback = FALSE;
         }
         else {
           // Rethrow the exception.
@@ -129,2 +142,25 @@
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  protected function checkEngineVersion() {
+    parent::checkEngineVersion();
+
+    // Ensure that the MySQL driver supports utf8mb4 encoding.
+    $version = Database::getConnection()->clientVersion();
+    if (FALSE !== strpos($version, 'mysqlnd')) {
+      // The mysqlnd driver supports utf8mb4 starting at version 5.0.9.
+      $version = preg_replace('/^\D+([\d.]+).*/', '$1', $version);
+      if (version_compare($version, self::MYSQLND_MINIMUM_VERSION, '<')) {
+        $this->fail(t("The MySQLnd driver version %version is less than the minimum required version %minimum_version.", array('%version' => Database::getConnection()->version(), '%minimum_version' => self::MYSQLND_MINIMUM_VERSION)));
+      }
+    }
+    else {
+      // The libmysqlclient driver supports utf8mb4 starting at version 5.5.3.
+      if (version_compare($version, self::LIBMYSQLCLIENT_MINIMUM_VERSION, '<')) {
+        $this->fail(t("The libmysqlclient driver version %version is less than the minimum required version %minimum_version.", array('%version' => Database::getConnection()->version(), '%minimum_version' => self::LIBMYSQLCLIENT_MINIMUM_VERSION)));
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
 }
diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Install/Tasks.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Install/Tasks.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Install/Tasks.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Database/Install/Tasks.php
@@ -148,14 +148,14 @@
       }
     }
     // Check for failed results and compile message
-    $message = '';
+    $messages = array();
     foreach ($this->results as $result => $success) {
       if (!$success) {
-        $message = SafeMarkup::isSafe($result) ? $result : SafeMarkup::checkPlain($result);
+        $messages[] = SafeMarkup::isSafe($result) ? $result : '<li>' . SafeMarkup::checkPlain($result) . '</li>';
       }
     }
-    if (!empty($message)) {
-      $message = SafeMarkup::set('Resolve all issues below to continue the installation. For help configuring your database server, see the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/getting-started/install">installation handbook</a>, or contact your hosting provider.' . $message);
+    if (!empty($messages)) {
+      $message = SafeMarkup::set('Resolve all issues below to continue the installation. For help configuring your database server, see the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/getting-started/install">installation handbook</a>, or contact your hosting provider.<ul>' . implode($messages)) . '</ul>';
       throw new TaskException($message);
     }
   }