diff --git a/django/db/__init__.py b/django/db/__init__.py
index 8e50dd4206..18a20fbef6 100644
--- a/django/db/__init__.py
+++ b/django/db/__init__.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ connections = ConnectionHandler(settings.DATABASES)
 # we load all these up for backwards compatibility, you should use
 # connections['default'] instead.
 connection = connections['default']
-backend = load_backend(settings.DATABASE_ENGINE)
+backend = load_backend(connection.settings_dict['DATABASE_ENGINE'])
 DatabaseError = backend.DatabaseError
 IntegrityError = backend.IntegrityError
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py
index e67126e9a7..8678ee0c64 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py
@@ -23,17 +23,15 @@ class AdminScriptTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             settings_file = open(os.path.join(test_dir, filename), 'w')
         settings_file.write('# Settings file automatically generated by regressiontests.admin_scripts test case\n')
         exports = [
-            'DATABASE_ENGINE',
-            'DATABASE_NAME',
-            'DATABASE_USER',
-            'DATABASE_PASSWORD',
-            'DATABASE_HOST',
-            'DATABASE_PORT',
+            'DATABASES',
             'ROOT_URLCONF'
         ]
         for s in exports:
-            if hasattr(settings,s):
-                settings_file.write("%s = '%s'\n" % (s, str(getattr(settings,s))))
+            if hasattr(settings, s):
+                o = getattr(settings, s)
+                if not isinstance(o, dict):
+                    o = "'%s'" % o
+                settings_file.write("%s = %s\n" % (s, o))
 
         if apps is None:
             apps = ['django.contrib.auth', 'django.contrib.contenttypes', 'admin_scripts']
@@ -523,7 +521,7 @@ class DjangoAdminSettingsDirectory(AdminScriptTestCase):
     A series of tests for django-admin.py when the settings file is in a
     directory. (see #9751).
     """
-    
+
     def setUp(self):
         self.write_settings('settings', is_dir=True)