diff --git a/build-base.php b/build-base.php
index 4e0609ff07..de65b65684 100644
--- a/build-base.php
+++ b/build-base.php
@@ -13,8 +13,11 @@ if ($sql_fh === false) {
     echo 'ERROR: Cannot open SQL build script '.$sql_file."\n";
     exit(1);
 }
-
-$database_link = mysqli_connect($config['db_host'], $config['db_user'], $config['db_pass']);
+if (is_resource($test_db)) {
+    $database_link = &$test_db;
+} else {
+    $database_link = mysqli_connect('p:'.$config['db_host'], $config['db_user'], $config['db_pass']);
+}
 if ($database_link === false) {
     echo 'ERROR: Cannot connect to database: '.mysqli_error($database_link)."\n";
     exit(1);
diff --git a/html/install.php b/html/install.php
index 123fac346d..73ee6e8cec 100644
--- a/html/install.php
+++ b/html/install.php
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ if($stage == "4" || $stage == "3") {
 }
 
 require '../includes/defaults.inc.php';
+$config['db']['extension']='mysqli';
 // Work out the install directory
 $cur_dir = explode('/',__DIR__);
 $check = end($cur_dir);
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ require 'includes/functions.inc.php';
 
 // Check we can connect to MySQL DB, if not, back to stage 1 :)
 if($stage == 2) {
-    $test_db = mysqli_connect($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpass,$dbname);
+    $test_db = mysqli_connect('p:'.$dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpass,$dbname);
     if(mysqli_connect_error()) {
         $stage = 1;
         $msg = "Couldn't connect to the database, please check your details<br /> " . mysqli_connect_error();