diff --git a/lang/en/search.php b/lang/en/search.php
index f9e4da97bd3..a5d25d75cf9 100644
--- a/lang/en/search.php
+++ b/lang/en/search.php
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ $string['documentsinindex'] = 'Documents in index';
 $string['duration'] = 'Duration';
 $string['emptydatabaseerror'] = 'Database table is not present, or contains no index records.';
 $string['enginenotfound'] = 'Engine {$a} not found.';
-$string['enginenotinstalled'] = 'Engine {$a} not installed.';
+$string['enginenotinstalled'] = 'Engine {$a} is not installed.';
 $string['enginenotselected'] = 'You have not selected any search engine.';
 $string['engineserverstatus'] = 'The search engine is not available. Please contact your administrator.';
 $string['enteryoursearchquery'] = 'Enter your search query';
diff --git a/lib/adminlib.php b/lib/adminlib.php
index 8a2b6db09f2..645bf9c44a9 100644
--- a/lib/adminlib.php
+++ b/lib/adminlib.php
@@ -9741,7 +9741,11 @@ class admin_setting_searchsetupinfo extends admin_setting {
                             array('href' => $url));
             // Check the engine status.
             $searchengine = \core_search\manager::search_engine_instance();
-            $serverstatus = $searchengine->is_server_ready();
+            try {
+                $serverstatus = $searchengine->is_server_ready();
+            } catch (\moodle_exception $e) {
+                $serverstatus = $e->getMessage();
+            }
             if ($serverstatus === true) {
                 $status = html_writer::tag('span', get_string('yes'), array('class' => 'statusok'));
             } else {
diff --git a/search/engine/solr/classes/engine.php b/search/engine/solr/classes/engine.php
index ce2f722c6bd..52213aa27a5 100644
--- a/search/engine/solr/classes/engine.php
+++ b/search/engine/solr/classes/engine.php
@@ -1160,6 +1160,10 @@ class engine extends \core_search\engine {
             'timeout' => !empty($this->config->server_timeout) ? $this->config->server_timeout : '30'
         );
 
+        if (!class_exists('\SolrClient')) {
+            throw new \core_search\engine_exception('enginenotinstalled', 'search', '', 'solr');
+        }
+
         $client = new \SolrClient($options);
 
         if ($client === false && $triggerexception) {