diff --git a/trytond/backend/sqlite/database.py b/trytond/backend/sqlite/database.py
index 088f59f70d..630abb1776 100644
--- a/trytond/backend/sqlite/database.py
+++ b/trytond/backend/sqlite/database.py
@@ -413,6 +413,8 @@ class Database(DatabaseInterface):
         else:
             db_path = safe_join(
                 config.get('database', 'path'), self.name + '.sqlite')
+            if not os.path.isfile(db_path):
+                raise IOError("Database '%s' doesn't exist!" % db_path)
             db_uri = base_uri._replace(path=db_path)
 
         # Use unparse before replacing sqlite with file because SQLite accepts