--- a/db/apichanges.xml	
+++ a/db/apichanges.xml	
@@ -105,6 +105,21 @@ 
     <!-- ACTUAL CHANGES BEGIN HERE: -->
 
     <changes>
+        <change>
+            <api name="database_explorer_api"/>
+            <summary>Add ability to get the underlying JDBC Driver instance for a JDBCDriver</summary>
+            <version major="1" minor="28"/>
+            <date day="27" month="6" year="2008"/>
+            <author login="davidvc"/>
+            <compatibility addition="yes"/>
+            <description>
+                This change makes it possible to get the underlying Driver class.  Without
+                this, the only way you can obtain the driver is to create your own classloader that
+                has the driver classpath URLs in its search list and then load the driver.
+                This makes things much easier.
+            </description>
+            <issue number="134309"/>
+        </change>
         <change>
             <api name="database_explorer_api"/>
             <summary>Add ability to show the Add JDBC Driver dialog synchronously</summary>
--- a/db/arch.xml	
+++ a/db/arch.xml	
@@ -206,6 +206,14 @@ 
     This file should be registered in the <code>Databases/JDBCDrivers</code> folder of the module layer.
     To addres a bundled JAR inside the IDE the nbinst protocol can be used in the URLs: 
     <code>nbinst:/modules/ext/bundled-driver.jar</code>.
+   </p>
+  </usecase>
+  <usecase id="get-jdbc-driver" name="Get the underlying JDBC Driver instance for a JDBCDriver">
+   <p>
+      You can use the <a href="@TOP@org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/JDBCDriver.html#getDriver()">JDBCDriver.getDriver()</a>
+      method to obtain a reference to the underlying JDBC Driver instance.  This is useful if you want to use the registered
+      drivers but create your own JDBC connections independent of the Database Explorer.
+
    </p>
   </usecase>
   <usecase id="retrieve-drivers" name="Retrieving the list of JDBC ../db.drivers">
--- a/db/manifest.mf	
+++ a/db/manifest.mf	
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ 
 Manifest-Version: 1.0
 OpenIDE-Module: org.netbeans.modules.db/1
 OpenIDE-Module-Install: org/netbeans/modules/db/DatabaseModule.class
-OpenIDE-Module-Implementation-Version: 27
+OpenIDE-Module-Implementation-Version: 28
 OpenIDE-Module-Layer: org/netbeans/modules/db/resources/mf-layer.xml
 OpenIDE-Module-Requires: org.netbeans.api.javahelp.Help
 OpenIDE-Module-Localizing-Bundle: org/netbeans/modules/db/resources/Bundle.properties
--- a/db/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/JDBCDriver.java	
+++ a/db/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/JDBCDriver.java	
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ 
 package org.netbeans.api.db.explorer;
 
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.sql.Driver;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import org.netbeans.modules.db.explorer.DbDriverManager;
 
 /**
  * Encapsulates a JDBC driver.
@@ -114,6 +117,25 @@ 
     public String getName() {
         return name;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get a reference to the underlying java.sql.Driver for this JDBCDriver.
+     * This can be useful if you want to use the registered drivers to manage
+     * your own JDBC connections independent of the Database Explorer
+     *
+     * @return an instance of the java.sql.Driver for this JDBCDriver
+     *
+     * @throws DatabaseException if there was an error trying to get the driver instance
+     * 
+     * @since 1.28
+     */
+    public Driver getDriver() throws DatabaseException {
+        try {
+            return DbDriverManager.getDefault().getDriver(this);
+        } catch (SQLException sqle) {
+            throw new DatabaseException(sqle);
+        }
+    }
     
     public String toString() {
         return "JDBCDriver[name='" + name + // NOI18N
--- a/db/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/explorer/DbDriverManager.java	
+++ a/db/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/explorer/DbDriverManager.java	
@@ -213,6 +213,21 @@ 
         }
         return d;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the driver for a JDBCDriver.  It only tries to load it using Class.forName() -
+     * there is no URL to work with
+     */
+    public Driver getDriver(JDBCDriver jdbcDriver) throws SQLException {
+        ClassLoader l = getClassLoader(jdbcDriver);
+        try {
+            return (Driver)Class.forName(jdbcDriver.getClassName(), true, l).newInstance();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            SQLException sqlex = createDriverNotFoundException();
+            sqlex.initCause(e);
+            throw sqlex;
+        }
+    }
     
     /**
      * Gets a driver, but can skip DriverManager and doesn't throw SQLException if a driver can't be found.
@@ -236,13 +251,9 @@ 
         
         // didn't find it, try to load it from jdbcDriver, if any
         if (jdbcDriver != null) {
-            ClassLoader l = getClassLoader(jdbcDriver);
-            try {
-                return (Driver)Class.forName(jdbcDriver.getClassName(), true, l).newInstance();
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                SQLException sqlex = createDriverNotFoundException();
-                sqlex.initCause(e);
-                throw sqlex;
+            Driver d = getDriver(jdbcDriver);
+            if (d != null) {
+                return d;
             }
         }
         
--- a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/JDBCDriverManagerTest.java	
+++ a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/JDBCDriverManagerTest.java	
@@ -41,19 +41,18 @@ 
 
 package org.netbeans.api.db.explorer;
 
-import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.sql.Driver;
 import org.netbeans.modules.db.explorer.driver.JDBCDriverConvertor;
-import org.netbeans.modules.db.test.TestBase;
 import org.netbeans.modules.db.test.Util;
+import org.netbeans.modules.db.util.DBTestBase;
 import org.openide.loaders.DataObject;
 
 /**
  *
  * @author Andrei Badea
  */
-public class JDBCDriverManagerTest extends TestBase {
-
+public class JDBCDriverManagerTest extends DBTestBase {
     public JDBCDriverManagerTest(String testName) {
         super(testName);
     }
@@ -98,4 +97,12 @@ 
         assertSame(driver, JDBCDriverManager.getDefault().getDrivers("org.bar.BarDriver")[0]);
          */
     }
+
+    public void testGetDriver() throws Exception {
+        JDBCDriver jdbcDriver = getJDBCDriver();
+        Driver driver = jdbcDriver.getDriver();
+
+        assertNotNull(driver);
+
+    }
 }
--- a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/util/DBTestBase.java	
+++ a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/util/DBTestBase.java	
@@ -130,14 +130,24 @@ 
         super(name);
     }
 
+    protected static JDBCDriver getJDBCDriver() throws Exception{
+        if (jdbcDriver == null) {
+            jdbcDriver = JDBCDriver.create("derbydriver", "derbydriver", driverClass, new URL[] {driverJarUrl});
+            assertNotNull(jdbcDriver);
+            JDBCDriverManager.getDefault().addDriver(jdbcDriver);
+        }
+
+        return jdbcDriver;
+
+    }
+
     /**
      * Get the DatabaseConnection for the configured Java DB database.  This
      * method will create and register the connection the first time it is called
      */
     protected static DatabaseConnection getDatabaseConnection() throws Exception {
         if (dbConnection == null) {
-            JDBCDriver driver = JDBCDriver.create("derbydriver", "derbydriver", driverClass, new URL[] {driverJarUrl});
-            JDBCDriverManager.getDefault().addDriver(driver);
+            JDBCDriver driver = getJDBCDriver();
 
             dbConnection = DatabaseConnection.create(driver, dbUrl, username, "APP", password, false);
             ConnectionManager.getDefault().addConnection(dbConnection);
@@ -208,7 +218,7 @@ 
         conn = DriverManager.getConnection(dbUrl, username, password);
         return conn;
     }
-
+    
     protected void createSchema() throws Exception {
         dropSchema();
         conn.createStatement().executeUpdate("CREATE SCHEMA " + SCHEMA);