diff --git a/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc b/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc
index 9a778c76c47b351cc760b587aa26a482a98a9019..c5e3ed919085fae98bbbf778fcd7a77ef6a60893 100644
--- a/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc
+++ b/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class DatabaseConnection_sqlite extends DatabaseConnection {
    * Version of sqlite lower then 3.6.8 can't use savepoints.
    * See http://www.sqlite.org/releaselog/3_6_8.html
    *
-   * @var bool
+   * @var boolean
    */
   protected $savepointSupport = FALSE;
 
@@ -35,6 +35,26 @@ class DatabaseConnection_sqlite extends DatabaseConnection {
    */
   protected $willRollback;
 
+  /**
+   * All databases attached to the current database. This is used to allow
+   * prefixes to be safely handled without locking the table
+   * 
+   * @var array
+   */
+  protected $attachedDatabases = array();
+
+  /**
+   * Whether or not a table has been dropped this request: the destructor will
+   * only try to get rid of unnecessary databases if there is potential of them
+   * being empty.
+   * 
+   * This variable is set to public because DatabaseSchema_sqlite needs to
+   * access it. However, it should not be manually set.
+   * 
+   * @var boolean
+   */
+  var $tableDropped = FALSE;
+
   public function __construct(array $connection_options = array()) {
     // We don't need a specific PDOStatement class here, we simulate it below.
     $this->statementClass = NULL;
@@ -51,6 +71,27 @@ public function __construct(array $connection_options = array()) {
       PDO::ATTR_STRINGIFY_FETCHES => TRUE,
     ));
 
+    // Attach one database for each registered prefix.
+    $prefixes = &$this->prefixes;
+    if (!empty($this->defaultPrefix)) {
+      // Add in the default prefix, which is also attached.
+      $prefixes[] = &$this->defaultPrefix;
+    }
+    foreach ($this->prefixes as $table => &$prefix) {
+      // Empty prefix means query the main database -- no need to attach anything.
+      if (!empty($prefix)) {
+        // Only attach the database once.
+        if (!isset($this->attachedDatabases[$prefix])) {
+          $this->attachedDatabases[$prefix] = $prefix;
+          $this->query('ATTACH DATABASE :database AS :prefix', array(':database' => $connection_options['database'] . '-' . $prefix, ':prefix' => $prefix));
+        }
+
+        // Add a ., so queries become prefix.table, which is proper syntax for
+        // querying an attached database.
+        $prefix .= '.';
+      }
+    }
+
     $this->exec('PRAGMA encoding="UTF-8"');
 
     // Detect support for SAVEPOINT.
@@ -69,6 +110,36 @@ public function __construct(array $connection_options = array()) {
     $this->sqliteCreateFunction('rand', array($this, 'sqlFunctionRand'));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Destructor for the SQLite connection.
+   *
+   * We prune empty databases on destruct, but only if tables have been
+   * dropped. This is especially needed when running the test suite, which
+   * creates and destroy databases several times in a row.
+   */
+  public function __destruct() {
+    if ($this->tableDropped && !empty($this->attachedDatabases)) {
+      foreach ($this->attachedDatabases as $prefix) {
+        // Check if the database is now empty, ignore the internal SQLite tables.
+        try {
+          $count = $this->query('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ' . $prefix . '.sqlite_master WHERE type = :type AND name NOT LIKE :pattern', array(':type' => 'table', ':pattern' => 'sqlite_%'))->fetchField();
+
+          // We can prune the database file if it doens't have any tables.
+          if ($count == 0) {
+            // Detach the database.
+            $this->query('DETACH DATABASE :schema', array(':schema' => $prefix));
+            // Destroy the database file.
+            unlink($this->connectionOptions['database'] . '-' . $prefix);
+          }
+        }
+        catch (Exception $e) {
+          // Ignore the exception and continue. There is nothing we can do here
+          // to report the error or fail safe.
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * SQLite compatibility implementation for the IF() SQL function.
    */
diff --git a/includes/database/sqlite/schema.inc b/includes/database/sqlite/schema.inc
index 6830e6b19757b16caa57a994e0a3585b19b627f0..a7871a577dd13fe9b164dd0f4b68fbb50e7a9d12 100644
--- a/includes/database/sqlite/schema.inc
+++ b/includes/database/sqlite/schema.inc
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ public function dropTable($table) {
     if (!$this->tableExists($table)) {
       return FALSE;
     }
-
+    $this->connection->tableDropped = TRUE;
     $this->connection->query('DROP TABLE {' . $table . '}');
     return TRUE;
   }
@@ -622,9 +622,16 @@ public function fieldSetNoDefault($table, $field) {
   }
 
   public function findTables($table_expression) {
-    // Don't use {} around sqlite_master table.
-    $result = db_query("SELECT name FROM sqlite_master WHERE name LIKE :table_name", array(
-      ':table_name' => $table_expression,
+    // Don't use getPrefixInfo -- $table_expression includes the prefix.
+    list($prefix, $table) = explode('.', $table_expression);
+    if (empty($table)) {
+      $table = $prefix;
+      $prefix = NULL;
+    }
+    // Can't use query placeholders because the query would have to be
+    // :prefixsqlite_master, which does not work.
+    $result = db_query("SELECT name FROM " . ($prefix ? $prefix . '.' : '') . "sqlite_master WHERE name LIKE :table_name", array(
+      ':table_name' => $table,
     ));
     return $result->fetchAllKeyed(0, 0);
   }
diff --git a/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php b/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
index e9d5ad43dd0c81b1eab808647836e3d3959dc4a8..841451746ea6989428dc98d7524bf9cbc9a0aca5 100644
--- a/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
+++ b/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
@@ -1313,9 +1313,32 @@ protected function setUp() {
    * set up a clean environment for the current test run.
    */
   protected function preloadRegistry() {
+    // Use two separate queries, each with their own connections: copy the
+    // {registry} and {registry_file} tables over from the parent installation
+    // to the child installation.
     $original_connection = Database::getConnection('default', 'simpletest_original_default');
-    db_query('INSERT INTO {registry} SELECT * FROM ' . $original_connection->prefixTables('{registry}'));
-    db_query('INSERT INTO {registry_file} SELECT * FROM ' . $original_connection->prefixTables('{registry_file}'));
+    $test_connection = Database::getConnection();
+
+    foreach (array('registry', 'registry_file') as $table) {
+      // Find the records from the parent database.
+      $source_query = $original_connection
+        ->select($table, array(), array('fetch' => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC))
+        ->fields($table);
+
+      $dest_query = $test_connection->insert($table);
+
+      $first = TRUE;
+      foreach ($source_query->execute() as $row) {
+        if ($first) {
+          $dest_query->fields(array_keys($row));
+          $first = FALSE;
+        }
+        // Insert the records into the child database.
+        $dest_query->values($row);
+      }
+
+      $dest_query->execute();
+    }
   }
 
   /**