diff --git a/autotest.sh b/autotest.sh
index 83f184fa9c065fa12088d700536b4405d4b57182..3831e1812451577c1a020be83c90926743b2ba83 100755
--- a/autotest.sh
+++ b/autotest.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,16 @@ DATABASEUSER=oc_autotest$EXECUTOR_NUMBER
 ADMINLOGIN=admin$EXECUTOR_NUMBER
 BASEDIR=$PWD
 
+if ! [ -w config -a -w config/config.php ]; then
+	echo "Please enable write permissions on config and config/config.php" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+# Back up existing (dev) config if one exists
+if [ -f config/config.php ]; then
+	mv config/config.php config/config-autotest-backup.php
+fi
+
 # use tmpfs for datadir - should speedup unit test execution
 if [ -d /dev/shm ]; then
   DATADIR=/dev/shm/data-autotest$EXECUTOR_NUMBER
@@ -158,6 +168,13 @@ else
 	execute_tests $1 $2 $3
 fi
 
+cd $BASEDIR
+
+# Restore existing config
+if [ -f config/config-autotest-backup.php ]; then
+	mv config/config-autotest-backup.php config/config.php
+fi
+
 #
 # NOTES on mysql:
 #  - CREATE DATABASE oc_autotest;