diff --git a/common/keydb/keydb.go b/common/keydb/keydb.go
index b9fa884e2..04692e98c 100644
--- a/common/keydb/keydb.go
+++ b/common/keydb/keydb.go
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ type Database interface {
 func NewDatabase(dataSourceName string) (Database, error) {
 	uri, err := url.Parse(dataSourceName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// if the scheme doesn't match, fall back to postgres in case the config has
+		// postgres key=value connection strings
+		return postgres.NewDatabase(dataSourceName)
 	}
 	switch uri.Scheme {
 	case "postgres":
diff --git a/federationsender/storage/storage.go b/federationsender/storage/storage.go
index 8cffdbf1a..9f2805cf7 100644
--- a/federationsender/storage/storage.go
+++ b/federationsender/storage/storage.go
@@ -34,12 +34,14 @@ type Database interface {
 func NewDatabase(dataSourceName string) (Database, error) {
 	uri, err := url.Parse(dataSourceName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// if the scheme doesn't match, fall back to postgres in case the config has
+		// postgres key=value connection strings
+		return postgres.NewDatabase(dataSourceName)
 	}
 	switch uri.Scheme {
 	case "postgres":
 		return postgres.NewDatabase(dataSourceName)
 	default:
-		return nil, errors.New("unknown schema")
+		return errors.New("unknown schema")
 	}
 }
diff --git a/mediaapi/storage/storage.go b/mediaapi/storage/storage.go
index 0f39c1d0c..ca9f69f8f 100644
--- a/mediaapi/storage/storage.go
+++ b/mediaapi/storage/storage.go
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ type Database interface {
 func Open(dataSourceName string) (Database, error) {
 	uri, err := url.Parse(dataSourceName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// if the scheme doesn't match, fall back to postgres in case the config has
+		// postgres key=value connection strings
+		return postgres.Open(dataSourceName)
 	}
 	switch uri.Scheme {
 	case "postgres":
diff --git a/publicroomsapi/storage/storage.go b/publicroomsapi/storage/storage.go
index a6a39d523..d611686ba 100644
--- a/publicroomsapi/storage/storage.go
+++ b/publicroomsapi/storage/storage.go
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ type Database interface {
 func NewPublicRoomsServerDatabase(dataSourceName string) (Database, error) {
 	uri, err := url.Parse(dataSourceName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// if the scheme doesn't match, fall back to postgres in case the config has
+		// postgres key=value connection strings
+		return postgres.NewPublicRoomsServerDatabase(dataSourceName)
 	}
 	switch uri.Scheme {
 	case "postgres":
diff --git a/roomserver/storage/storage.go b/roomserver/storage/storage.go
index 325d96e99..62e8b64c3 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/storage.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/storage.go
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ type Database interface {
 func Open(dataSourceName string) (Database, error) {
 	uri, err := url.Parse(dataSourceName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// if the scheme doesn't match, fall back to postgres in case the config has
+		// postgres key=value connection strings
+		return postgres.Open(dataSourceName)
 	}
 	switch uri.Scheme {
 	case "postgres":
diff --git a/syncapi/storage/storage.go b/syncapi/storage/storage.go
index eedb42f0e..4d896531a 100644
--- a/syncapi/storage/storage.go
+++ b/syncapi/storage/storage.go
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@ type Database interface {
 func NewSyncServerDatasource(dataSourceName string) (Database, error) {
 	uri, err := url.Parse(dataSourceName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// if the scheme doesn't match, fall back to postgres in case the config has
+		// postgres key=value connection strings
+		return postgres.NewSyncServerDatasource(dataSourceName)
 	}
 	switch uri.Scheme {
 	case "postgres":