diff --git a/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php b/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php
index 7a792865f18..0ab46c012d9 100644
--- a/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php
+++ b/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php
@@ -76,6 +76,10 @@ if (!@include_once('PHPUnit/Autoload.php')) {
     phpunit_bootstrap_error(130);
 }
 
+if (!@include_once('PHPUnit/Extensions/Database/Autoload.php')) {
+    phpunit_bootstrap_error(130);
+}
+
 if ($options['run']) {
     unset($options);
     unset($unrecognized);
diff --git a/lib/phpunit/bootstraplib.php b/lib/phpunit/bootstraplib.php
index 82d6c28c2ac..d87c23f2898 100644
--- a/lib/phpunit/bootstraplib.php
+++ b/lib/phpunit/bootstraplib.php
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ function phpunit_bootstrap_error($errorcode, $text = '') {
             $text = 'Moodle requires PHPUnit 3.6.x, '.$text.' is not compatible';
             break;
         case 130:
-            $text = 'Moodle can not find PHPUnit PEAR library';
+            $text = 'Moodle can not find PHPUnit PEAR library or necessary PHPUnit extension';
             break;
         case 131:
             $text = 'Moodle configuration problem: '.$text;
diff --git a/lib/phpunit/readme.md b/lib/phpunit/readme.md
index 4e6f4235e42..0cf0de37bb7 100644
--- a/lib/phpunit/readme.md
+++ b/lib/phpunit/readme.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Documentation
 Installation
 ------------
 1. install PEAR package manager - see [PEAR Manual](http://pear.php.net/manual/en/installation.php)
-2. install PHPUnit package - see [PHPUnit installation documentation](http://www.phpunit.de/manual/current/en/installation.html)
+2. install PHPUnit package and phpunit/DbUnit extension - see [PHPUnit installation documentation](http://www.phpunit.de/manual/current/en/installation.html)
 3. edit main config.php - add `$CFG->phpunit_prefix` and `$CFG->phpunit_dataroot` - see config-dist.php
 4. execute `admin/tool/phpunit/cli/init.sh` to initialise the test environemnt, repeat it after every upgrade or installation of plugins