diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/bootstrap.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/bootstrap.php
index 2bb428d74c..f93d6bee89 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/bootstrap.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/bootstrap.php
@@ -65,7 +65,10 @@ if ( ! defined( 'WP_DEFAULT_THEME' ) ) {
 }
 $wp_theme_directories = array( DIR_TESTDATA . '/themedir1' );
 
-system( WP_PHP_BINARY . ' ' . escapeshellarg( dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/install.php' ) . ' ' . escapeshellarg( $config_file_path ) . ' ' . $multisite );
+system( WP_PHP_BINARY . ' ' . escapeshellarg( dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/install.php' ) . ' ' . escapeshellarg( $config_file_path ) . ' ' . $multisite, $retval );
+if ( 0 !== $retval ) {
+	exit( $retval );
+}
 
 if ( $multisite ) {
 	echo "Running as multisite..." . PHP_EOL;
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php
index d9872fb541..928fcd912f 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php
@@ -115,6 +115,10 @@ function _wp_die_handler_filter() {
 	return '_wp_die_handler';
 }
 
+function _wp_die_handler_filter_exit() {
+	return '_wp_die_handler_exit';
+}
+
 function _wp_die_handler_txt( $message, $title, $args ) {
 	echo "\nwp_die called\n";
 	echo "Message : $message\n";
@@ -127,6 +131,19 @@ function _wp_die_handler_txt( $message, $title, $args ) {
 	}
 }
 
+function _wp_die_handler_exit( $message, $title, $args ) {
+	echo "\nwp_die called\n";
+	echo "Message : $message\n";
+	echo "Title : $title\n";
+	if ( ! empty( $args ) ) {
+		echo "Args: \n";
+		foreach( $args as $k => $v ){
+			echo "\t $k : $v\n";
+		}
+	}
+	exit( 1 );
+}
+
 /**
  * Set a permalink structure.
  *
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/install.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/install.php
index 38db3ce55a..7317f4e3ef 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/install.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/install.php
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ tests_reset__SERVER();
 
 $PHP_SELF = $GLOBALS['PHP_SELF'] = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] = '/index.php';
 
+tests_add_filter( 'wp_die_handler', '_wp_die_handler_filter_exit' );
+
 require_once ABSPATH . '/wp-settings.php';
 
 require_once ABSPATH . '/wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php';