diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity/DatabaseErrorPageMiddleware.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity/DatabaseErrorPageMiddleware.cs
index 18c51ff3b9..bad1698582 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity/DatabaseErrorPageMiddleware.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity/DatabaseErrorPageMiddleware.cs
@@ -92,7 +92,12 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity
                                         select m.Key)
                                     .ToList();
 
-                                var pendingModelChanges = modelDiffer.HasDifferences(migrationsAssembly.ModelSnapshot?.Model, dbContext.Model);
+                                // HasDifferences will return true if there is no model snapshot, but if there is an existing database
+                                // and no model snapshot then we don't want to show the error page since they are most likely targeting
+                                // and existing database and have just misconfigured their model
+                                var pendingModelChanges = migrationsAssembly.ModelSnapshot == null && databaseExists
+                                    ? false
+                                    : modelDiffer.HasDifferences(migrationsAssembly.ModelSnapshot?.Model, dbContext.Model);
 
                                 if ((!databaseExists && pendingMigrations.Any()) || pendingMigrations.Any() || pendingModelChanges)
                                 {
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity.FunctionalTests/DatabaseErrorPageMiddlewareTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity.FunctionalTests/DatabaseErrorPageMiddlewareTest.cs
index f1d1503e32..1caded838b 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity.FunctionalTests/DatabaseErrorPageMiddlewareTest.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity.FunctionalTests/DatabaseErrorPageMiddlewareTest.cs
@@ -72,6 +72,34 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Diagnostics.Entity.Tests
             }
         }
 
+        [ConditionalTheory]
+        [FrameworkSkipCondition(RuntimeFrameworks.Mono)]
+        public async Task Existing_database_not_using_migrations_exception_passes_thru()
+        {
+            TestServer server = SetupTestServer<BloggingContext, DatabaseErrorButNoMigrationsMiddleware>();
+            var ex = await Assert.ThrowsAsync<DbUpdateException>(async () =>
+                await server.CreateClient().GetAsync("http://localhost/"));
+
+            Assert.Equal("Invalid column name 'Name'.", ex.InnerException.Message);
+        }
+
+        class DatabaseErrorButNoMigrationsMiddleware
+        {
+            public DatabaseErrorButNoMigrationsMiddleware(RequestDelegate next)
+            { }
+
+            public virtual Task Invoke(HttpContext context)
+            {
+                var db = context.ApplicationServices.GetService<BloggingContext>();
+                db.Database.EnsureCreated();
+                db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("ALTER TABLE dbo.Blog DROP COLUMN Name");
+
+                db.Blogs.Add(new Blog());
+                db.SaveChanges();
+                throw new Exception("SaveChanges should have thrown");
+            }
+        }
+
         [ConditionalTheory]
         [FrameworkSkipCondition(RuntimeFrameworks.Mono)]
         public async Task Error_page_displayed_no_migrations()