diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 6e6f5619..76cc310b 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 require 'bundler'
 Bundler::GemHelper.install_tasks
 
-require 'rake/testtask'
-
-desc 'Set a relevant database.yml'
+desc 'Set a relevant database.yml for testing'
 task :prepare do
   ENV["DB"] ||= "sqlite"
   if RUBY_VERSION.to_f >= 1.9
@@ -15,6 +13,7 @@ task :prepare do
 end
 
 
+require 'rake/testtask'
 desc 'Run tests on PaperTrail with Test::Unit.'
 Rake::TestTask.new(:test) do |t|
   t.libs << 'lib'
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 45228520..ddee6aa0 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
+ENV["DB"] ||= 'sqlite'
+
+unless File.exists?(File.expand_path('../../test/dummy/config/database.yml', __FILE__))
+  warn "WARNING: No database.yml detected for the dummy app, please run `rake prepare` first"
+end
 
 require File.expand_path('../../test/dummy/config/environment', __FILE__)
 require 'rspec/rails'
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 609b9b22..75e7faad 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-# Configure Rails Envinronment
 ENV["RAILS_ENV"] = "test"
 ENV["DB"] ||= "sqlite"
+
+unless File.exists?(File.expand_path('../../test/dummy/config/database.yml', __FILE__))
+  warn "WARNING: No database.yml detected for the dummy app, please run `rake prepare` first"
+end
+
 require File.expand_path("../dummy/config/environment.rb",  __FILE__)
 require "rails/test_help"
 require 'shoulda'