diff --git a/administrator/components/com_admin/sql/updates/mysql/3.5.0-2016-02-26.sql b/administrator/components/com_admin/sql/updates/mysql/3.5.0-2016-02-26.sql
index b331cc015f90b..aa2081a9f36c1 100644
--- a/administrator/components/com_admin/sql/updates/mysql/3.5.0-2016-02-26.sql
+++ b/administrator/components/com_admin/sql/updates/mysql/3.5.0-2016-02-26.sql
@@ -3,12 +3,15 @@
 -- order to check if the conversion has been performed and if not show a
 -- message about database problem in the database schema view. 
 --
--- Note: This table is created with charset utf8 and collation utf8_unicode_ci
--- so it will not cause an exception on upgrading a pre-3.5.0 with a database
--- not supporting utf8mb4, but all create table statements in future have to
--- use charset utf8mb4 and collation utf8mb4_unicode_ci.
+-- The value of `converted` can be 0 (not converted yet after update),
+-- 1 (converted to utf8), 2 (converted to utf8mb4) or 3 (value set on new
+-- installation, will be later set to 1 or 2 by the database schema
+-- manager according to utf8 support of the database before checking the
+-- database)
 --
 
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `#__utf8_conversion` (
   `converted` tinyint(4) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
-) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
+
+INSERT INTO `#__utf8_conversion` (`converted`) VALUES (0);
diff --git a/administrator/components/com_installer/models/database.php b/administrator/components/com_installer/models/database.php
index 8d62df89e5a7d..7aa0dc3d383fb 100644
--- a/administrator/components/com_installer/models/database.php
+++ b/administrator/components/com_installer/models/database.php
@@ -362,9 +362,24 @@ private function prepareUtf8mb4StatusTable()
 			return;
 		}
 
-		$db->setQuery('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
+		$creaTabSql = 'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
 			. ' (' . $db->quoteName('converted') . ' tinyint(4) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0'
-			. ') ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;')->execute();
+			. ') ENGINE=InnoDB';
+
+		if ($db->hasUTF8mb4Support())
+		{
+			$converted = 2;
+			$creaTabSql = $creaTabSql
+				. ' DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;';
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			$converted = 1;
+			$creaTabSql = $creaTabSql
+				. ' DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;';
+		}
+
+		$db->setQuery($creaTabSql)->execute();
 
 		$db->setQuery('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion') . ';');
 
@@ -372,15 +387,25 @@ private function prepareUtf8mb4StatusTable()
 
 		if ($count > 1)
 		{
+			// Table messed up somehow, clear it
 			$db->setQuery('DELETE FROM ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
 				. ';')->execute();
 			$db->setQuery('INSERT INTO ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
-				. ' (' . $db->quoteName('converted') . ') ' . ' VALUES (0);')->execute();
+				. ' (' . $db->quoteName('converted') . ') VALUES (0);')->execute();
+		}
+		elseif ($count == 1)
+		{
+			// Set status after new installation to converted
+			$db->setQuery('UPDATE ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
+				. ' SET ' . $db->quoteName('converted')
+				. ' = ' . $converted
+				. ' WHERE ' . $db->quoteName('converted') . ' = 3;')->execute();
 		}
 		elseif ($count == 0)
 		{
+			// Record missing somehow, fix this
 			$db->setQuery('INSERT INTO ' . $db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
-				. ' (' . $db->quoteName('converted') . ') ' . ' VALUES (0);')->execute();
+				. ' (' . $db->quoteName('converted') . ') VALUES (0);')->execute();
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/installation/sql/mysql/joomla.sql b/installation/sql/mysql/joomla.sql
index f9fb25f556e23..9967ef6a201b9 100644
--- a/installation/sql/mysql/joomla.sql
+++ b/installation/sql/mysql/joomla.sql
@@ -1949,7 +1949,20 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `#__user_usergroup_map` (
   PRIMARY KEY (`user_id`,`group_id`)
 ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
 
--- --------------------------------------------------------
+--
+-- Table structure for table `#__utf8_conversion`
+--
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `#__utf8_conversion` (
+  `converted` tinyint(4) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 DEFAULT COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
+
+--
+-- Dumping data for table `#__utf8_conversion`
+-- - the `converted`=3 means table just created with a new installation
+--
+
+INSERT INTO `#__utf8_conversion` (`converted`) VALUES (3);
 
 --
 -- Table structure for table `#__viewlevels`
diff --git a/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php b/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php
index b069abb999d19..5b8af6d4ba27f 100644
--- a/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php
+++ b/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ public function __construct($db, $folder = null)
 			$tmpSchemaChangeItem->checkQuery = 'SELECT '
 				. $this->db->quoteName('converted')
 				. ' FROM ' . $this->db->quoteName('#__utf8_conversion')
-				. ' WHERE ' . $this->db->quoteName('converted') . ' = ' . $converted . ';';
+				. ' WHERE ' . $this->db->quoteName('converted') . ' IN (' . $converted . ', 3);';
 
 			// Set expected records from check query
 			$tmpSchemaChangeItem->checkQueryExpected = 1;