diff --git a/lib/setuplib.php b/lib/setuplib.php
index 276e8c0511a..7171f8145ce 100644
--- a/lib/setuplib.php
+++ b/lib/setuplib.php
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ function setup_is_unicodedb() {
     switch ($CFG->dbtype) {
         case 'mysql':
         /// Get MySQL character_set_database value
-            $rs = $db->Execute("SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set_database'");
+            $rs = $db->Execute("SHOW LOCAL VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set_database'");
             if ($rs && $rs->RecordCount() > 0) {
                 $records = $rs->GetAssoc(true);
                 $encoding = $records['character_set_database']['Value'];