Sql-server – Single user mode when was configured

This has always happened, back to SQL Server 2000.
Without schema, how does SQL Server know you want to put it in the dbo schema?

The only way to specify a default schema is to :

• use SQL logins (not Windows)
• run as "sysadmin"

Neither of these is acceptable

Best practice is to always qualify schema for every object reference for DDL and DML. There are clear performance benefits because of plan re-use.

Also, deliberate schema use is better for SQL Server 2005:

• tables in Data
• other tables in Archive, Staging etc
• code in schemas per client permissions: Desktop, WebGUI etc

Using the dbo schema is so last millenium :-) Links:

• Schema design - best practices?
• https://dba.stackexchange.com/q/7257/630

As long as the path names remain the same for your database files, this approach should work. This assumes that when you say "copying all files", your are ONLY moving the database files (data/log) and not the SQL Server binaries. If your SQL binaries and/or resourcedb need to be moved, you have a much stickier task ahead of you.

Your biggest gotcha should be maintaining the directory and database file permissions. I would handle this using ROBOCOPY with the /copyall switch to move the files while keeping all perms and attributes intact.

While outside of scope, if your end goal is to move the database to your full cluster and you're hurdle is client connectivity, have you considered using a DNS Alias to redirect traffic? I understand that the connectivity change could be larger in scope, but it could give you a path to consolidating your databases to where you want them.