diff --git a/setup.php b/setup.php
index 85de0542..886d523f 100644
--- a/setup.php
+++ b/setup.php
@@ -782,6 +782,13 @@ if(isset($_POST['add_database'])){
   $password = $_POST['password'];
   $config_base_url = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . dirname($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
 
+  // Test database connection before writing it to config.php
+  try {
+    mysqli_connect($host, $username, $password, $database);
+  } catch (Exception $e) {
+    exit("<b>Database connection failed - please check and try again</b> <br> <br> $e");
+  }
+
   $new_config = array();
   $new_config[] = "<?php\n\n";
   $new_config[] = sprintf("\$dbhost = '%s';\n", addslashes($host));