is this an sp4 instance ? (we plan to upgrade to sp4, just inventoring what to expect)

Using isqlw.exe (or osql.exe) (i cannot recall wich one is provided with msde) you can perform something like this :

create a script like this

-- allow serverlogin

 exec sp_grantlogin N'windowsdomain\windowsuser_A' --...

Thanks for your input.

That is indeed a section that is in my checklist

Well, lets just say it is a "must do" to get a feeling with your rdbms.

If you ignore execution plans, or the investigation regaring how and why your rdbms uses...

and owned by DBO or the current user

sql2000 ?

only make the wanted user or group member of the database-owner group in the database. Database owners can do anything they want in the db.

exec sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', N'youruser'

Grant the...

Check Information Schema Views in books online.

They are SQL-92 standard.

These views are preferable over the system-tables like sysobjects, sysusers, ... because they follow the standard.

Propriatary systemcatalogtables may change with each fix/servicepack/version.

I'ts always a nice adventure to predict an execution plan yourself and then compare it to the one sqlserver uses 

You'll learn a lot...

Well, for sqlserver < ss2005 "specific_schema" = "owner"

If you don't want to filter based on owner, just comment the where clause.

you can run...

Are u allowed to use regedit ?

check [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\yourdsn

and remove the "Database"="faultydbname"

or replace it with a correct dbname

or remove the full...

how about :

-- grant select, insert, update, delete

DECLARE @SQLStatement nvarchar(4000)

DECLARE csrGrants CURSOR LOCAL FAST_FORWARD READ_ONLY  FOR

 Select  'Grant select, insert, update, delete on [' + [TABLE_SCHEMA] + '].[' + [TABLE_NAME] +...

can you remove the odbc-dsn  and then build it up again ?

Offcourse you'll have to check execution plans, but the optimizor will see trough it (I hope)

This would result in a query like this...

Nope

- take a look at SQLDMO

- maybe this can help you out ...

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/forums/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=23&messageid=107508

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q220/1/63.asp&NoWebContent=1

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Upgrade\scptxfr.exe" /s yourserver /d...

did someone drop and recreate the database ?

Connect using Query Analyser. You'll also get the message, but it will connect to master and you can work from there on.