diff --git a/openlp/core/lib/db.py b/openlp/core/lib/db.py
index dcff08497..a4df3aa61 100644
--- a/openlp/core/lib/db.py
+++ b/openlp/core/lib/db.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from urllib.parse import quote_plus as urlquote
 from alembic.migration import MigrationContext
 from alembic.operations import Operations
 from sqlalchemy import Column, MetaData, Table, UnicodeText, create_engine, types
-from sqlalchemy.engine.url import make_url
+from sqlalchemy.engine.url import make_url, URL
 from sqlalchemy.exc import DBAPIError, InvalidRequestError, OperationalError, ProgrammingError, SQLAlchemyError
 from sqlalchemy.orm import mapper, scoped_session, sessionmaker
 from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
@@ -47,62 +47,94 @@ from openlp.core.lib.ui import critical_error_message_box
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+def _set_url_database(url, database):
+    try:
+        ret = URL.create(
+            drivername=url.drivername,
+            username=url.username,
+            password=url.password,
+            host=url.host,
+            port=url.port,
+            database=database,
+            query=url.query
+        )
+    except AttributeError:  # SQLAlchemy <1.4
+        url.database = database
+        ret = url
+    assert ret.database == database, ret
+    return ret
+
+
+def _get_scalar_result(engine, sql):
+    with engine.connect() as conn:
+        return conn.scalar(sql)
+
+
+def _sqlite_file_exists(database):
+    if not os.path.isfile(database) or os.path.getsize(database) < 100:
+        return False
+
+    with open(database, 'rb') as f:
+        header = f.read(100)
+
+    return header[:16] == b'SQLite format 3\x00'
+
+
 def database_exists(url):
     """Check if a database exists.
-
     :param url: A SQLAlchemy engine URL.
-
     Performs backend-specific testing to quickly determine if a database
     exists on the server. ::
-
-        database_exists('postgres://postgres@localhost/name')  #=> False
-        create_database('postgres://postgres@localhost/name')
-        database_exists('postgres://postgres@localhost/name')  #=> True
-
+        database_exists('postgresql://postgres@localhost/name')  #=> False
+        create_database('postgresql://postgres@localhost/name')
+        database_exists('postgresql://postgres@localhost/name')  #=> True
     Supports checking against a constructed URL as well. ::
-
-        engine = create_engine('postgres://postgres@localhost/name')
+        engine = create_engine('postgresql://postgres@localhost/name')
         database_exists(engine.url)  #=> False
         create_database(engine.url)
         database_exists(engine.url)  #=> True
 
-    Borrowed from SQLAlchemy_Utils (v0.32.14) since we only need this one function.
+    Borrowed from SQLAlchemy_Utils since we only need this one function.
+    Copied from a fork/pull request since SQLAlchemy_Utils didn't supprt SQLAlchemy 1.4 when it was released:
+ https://github.com/nsoranzo/sqlalchemy-utils/blob/4f52578/sqlalchemy_utils/functions/database.py
     """
 
     url = copy(make_url(url))
     database = url.database
-    if url.drivername.startswith('postgresql'):
-        url.database = 'template1'
-    else:
-        url.database = None
+    dialect_name = url.get_dialect().name
 
-    engine = create_engine(url)
+    if dialect_name == 'postgresql':
+        text = "SELECT 1 FROM pg_database WHERE datname='%s'" % database
+        for db in (database, 'postgres', 'template1', 'template0', None):
+            url = _set_url_database(url, database=db)
+            engine = create_engine(url, poolclass=NullPool)
+            try:
+                return bool(_get_scalar_result(engine, text))
+            except (ProgrammingError, OperationalError):
+                pass
+        return False
 
-    if engine.dialect.name == 'postgresql':
-        text = "SELECT 1 FROM pg_database WHERE datname='{db}'".format(db=database)
-        return bool(engine.execute(text).scalar())
-
-    elif engine.dialect.name == 'mysql':
+    elif dialect_name == 'mysql':
+        url = _set_url_database(url, database=None)
+        engine = create_engine(url, poolclass=NullPool)
         text = ("SELECT SCHEMA_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SCHEMATA "
-                "WHERE SCHEMA_NAME = '{db}'".format(db=database))
-        return bool(engine.execute(text).scalar())
+                "WHERE SCHEMA_NAME = '%s'" % database)
+        return bool(_get_scalar_result(engine, text))
 
-    elif engine.dialect.name == 'sqlite':
+    elif dialect_name == 'sqlite':
+        url = _set_url_database(url, database=None)
+        engine = create_engine(url, poolclass=NullPool)
         if database:
-            return database == ':memory:' or os.path.exists(database)
+            return database == ':memory:' or _sqlite_file_exists(database)
         else:
             # The default SQLAlchemy database is in memory,
             # and :memory is not required, thus we should support that use-case
             return True
-
     else:
         text = 'SELECT 1'
         try:
-            url.database = database
-            engine = create_engine(url)
-            engine.execute(text)
-            return True
-
+            engine = create_engine(url, poolclass=NullPool)
+            return bool(_get_scalar_result(engine, text))
         except (ProgrammingError, OperationalError):
             return False