diff --git a/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SchemaUtilites.java b/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SchemaUtilites.java
index 51c3cb10771..7d42e57e9ad 100644
--- a/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SchemaUtilites.java
+++ b/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SchemaUtilites.java
@@ -77,6 +77,29 @@ public static SchemaPlus findSchema(final SchemaPlus defaultSchema, final String
     return findSchema(defaultSchema, schemaPathAsList);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Utility function to get the commonPrefix schema between two supplied schemas.
+   *
+   * Eg: if the defaultSchema: dfs and the schemaPath is dfs.tmp.`cicks.json`
+   *     then this function returns dfs if (caseSensitive is not true
+   *     otherwise it returns empty string.
+   *
+   * @param defaultSchema default schema
+   * @param schemaPath current schema path
+   * @param isCaseSensitive true if caseSensitive comparision is required.
+   * @return common prefix schemaPath
+   */
+  public static String getPrefixSchemaPath(final String defaultSchema,
+                                           final String schemaPath,
+                                           final boolean isCaseSensitive) {
+    if (!isCaseSensitive) {
+      return Strings.commonPrefix(defaultSchema.toLowerCase(), schemaPath.toLowerCase());
+    }
+    else {
+      return Strings.commonPrefix(defaultSchema, schemaPath);
+    }
+  }
+
   /** Utility method to search for schema path starting from the given <i>schema</i> reference */
   private static SchemaPlus searchSchemaTree(SchemaPlus schema, final List<String> schemaPath) {
     for (String schemaName : schemaPath) {
@@ -93,7 +116,7 @@ private static SchemaPlus searchSchemaTree(SchemaPlus schema, final List<String>
    * @return true if the given <i>schema</i> is root schema. False otherwise.
    */
   public static boolean isRootSchema(SchemaPlus schema) {
-    return schema.getParentSchema() == null;
+    return schema == null || schema.getParentSchema() == null;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -149,6 +172,16 @@ public static void throwSchemaNotFoundException(final SchemaPlus defaultSchema,
         .build(logger);
   }
 
+  /** Utility method to throw {@link UserException} with context information */
+  public static void throwSchemaNotFoundException(final SchemaPlus defaultSchema, final List<String> givenSchemaPath) {
+    throw UserException.validationError()
+            .message("Schema [%s] is not valid with respect to either root schema or current default schema.",
+                    givenSchemaPath)
+            .addContext("Current default schema: ",
+                    isRootSchema(defaultSchema) ? "No default schema selected" : getSchemaPath(defaultSchema))
+            .build(logger);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Given reference to default schema in schema tree, search for schema with given <i>schemaPath</i>. Once a schema is
    * found resolve it into a mutable <i>AbstractDrillSchema</i> instance. A {@link UserException} is throws when:
diff --git a/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SqlConverter.java b/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SqlConverter.java
index 577804141b2..798e3a4479d 100644
--- a/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SqlConverter.java
+++ b/exec/java-exec/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/planner/sql/SqlConverter.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import org.apache.calcite.adapter.java.JavaTypeFactory;
 import org.apache.calcite.jdbc.CalciteSchema;
 import org.apache.calcite.jdbc.CalciteSchemaImpl;
@@ -53,6 +54,8 @@
 import org.apache.calcite.sql.validate.SqlValidatorScope;
 import org.apache.calcite.sql2rel.RelDecorrelator;
 import org.apache.calcite.sql2rel.SqlToRelConverter;
+import org.apache.calcite.util.Util;
+import org.apache.commons.collections.ListUtils;
 import org.apache.drill.common.config.DrillConfig;
 import org.apache.drill.common.exceptions.UserException;
 import org.apache.drill.common.types.Types;
@@ -114,7 +117,7 @@ public SqlConverter(QueryContext context) {
     this.session = context.getSession();
     this.drillConfig = context.getConfig();
     this.catalog = new DrillCalciteCatalogReader(
-        CalciteSchemaImpl.from(rootSchema),
+        this.rootSchema,
         parserConfig.caseSensitive(),
         CalciteSchemaImpl.from(defaultSchema).path(null),
         typeFactory,
@@ -281,7 +284,7 @@ public Expander() {
     @Override
     public RelNode expandView(RelDataType rowType, String queryString, List<String> schemaPath) {
       final DrillCalciteCatalogReader catalogReader = new DrillCalciteCatalogReader(
-          CalciteSchemaImpl.from(rootSchema),
+          rootSchema,
           parserConfig.caseSensitive(),
           schemaPath,
           typeFactory,
@@ -294,7 +297,7 @@ public RelNode expandView(RelDataType rowType, String queryString, List<String>
     @Override
     public RelNode expandView(RelDataType rowType, String queryString, SchemaPlus rootSchema, List<String> schemaPath) {
       final DrillCalciteCatalogReader catalogReader = new DrillCalciteCatalogReader(
-          CalciteSchemaImpl.from(rootSchema), // new root schema
+          rootSchema, // new root schema
           parserConfig.caseSensitive(),
           schemaPath,
           typeFactory,
@@ -431,17 +434,20 @@ private class DrillCalciteCatalogReader extends CalciteCatalogReader {
     private final DrillConfig drillConfig;
     private final UserSession session;
     private boolean allowTemporaryTables;
+    private final SchemaPlus rootSchema;
 
-    DrillCalciteCatalogReader(CalciteSchema rootSchema,
+
+    DrillCalciteCatalogReader(SchemaPlus rootSchema,
                               boolean caseSensitive,
                               List<String> defaultSchema,
                               JavaTypeFactory typeFactory,
                               DrillConfig drillConfig,
                               UserSession session) {
-      super(rootSchema, caseSensitive, defaultSchema, typeFactory);
+      super(CalciteSchemaImpl.from(rootSchema), caseSensitive, defaultSchema, typeFactory);
       this.drillConfig = drillConfig;
       this.session = session;
       this.allowTemporaryTables = true;
+      this.rootSchema = rootSchema;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -481,7 +487,39 @@ public RelOptTableImpl getTable(final List<String> names) {
             .message("Temporary tables usage is disallowed. Used temporary table name: %s.", names)
             .build(logger);
       }
-      return super.getTable(names);
+
+      RelOptTableImpl table = super.getTable(names);
+
+      // Check the schema and throw a valid SchemaNotFound exception instead of TableNotFound exception.
+      if (table == null) {
+        isValidSchema(names);
+      }
+
+      return table;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * check if the schema provided is a valid schema:
+     * <li>schema is not indicated (only one element in the names list)<li/>
+     *
+     * @param names             list of schema and table names, table name is always the last element
+     * @return throws a userexception if the schema is not valid.
+     */
+    private void isValidSchema(final List<String> names) throws UserException {
+      SchemaPlus defaultSchema = session.getDefaultSchema(this.rootSchema);
+      String defaultSchemaCombinedPath = SchemaUtilites.getSchemaPath(defaultSchema);
+      List<String> schemaPath = Util.skipLast(names);
+      String schemaPathCombined = SchemaUtilites.getSchemaPath(schemaPath);
+      String commonPrefix = SchemaUtilites.getPrefixSchemaPath(defaultSchemaCombinedPath,
+              schemaPathCombined,
+              parserConfig.caseSensitive());
+      boolean isPrefixDefaultPath = commonPrefix.length() == defaultSchemaCombinedPath.length();
+      List<String> fullSchemaPath = Strings.isNullOrEmpty(defaultSchemaCombinedPath) ? schemaPath :
+              isPrefixDefaultPath ? schemaPath : ListUtils.union(SchemaUtilites.getSchemaPathAsList(defaultSchema), schemaPath);
+      if (names.size() > 1 && (SchemaUtilites.findSchema(this.rootSchema, fullSchemaPath) == null &&
+              SchemaUtilites.findSchema(this.rootSchema, schemaPath) == null)) {
+        SchemaUtilites.throwSchemaNotFoundException(defaultSchema, schemaPath);
+      }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestFileSelection.java b/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestFileSelection.java
index 82f45ae62f3..d23cd1fba4a 100644
--- a/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestFileSelection.java
+++ b/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestFileSelection.java
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@
 import org.apache.drill.BaseTestQuery;
 import org.apache.drill.common.util.TestTools;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileStatus;
-import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
 
 public class TestFileSelection extends BaseTestQuery {
   private static final List<FileStatus> EMPTY_STATUSES = ImmutableList.of();
@@ -62,5 +60,4 @@ public void testEmptyFolderThrowsTableNotFound() throws Exception {
       throw ex;
     }
   }
-
 }
diff --git a/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestSchemaNotFoundException.java b/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestSchemaNotFoundException.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cca2bd07953
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/dfs/TestSchemaNotFoundException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.drill.exec.store.dfs;
+
+import org.apache.drill.BaseTestQuery;
+import org.apache.drill.common.util.TestTools;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+public class TestSchemaNotFoundException extends BaseTestQuery {
+
+    @Test(expected = Exception.class)
+    public void testSchemaNotFoundForWrongStoragePlgn() throws Exception {
+        final String table = String.format("%s/empty", TestTools.getTestResourcesPath());
+        final String query = String.format("select * from dfs1.`%s`", table);
+        try {
+            testNoResult(query);
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            final String pattern = String.format("[[dfs1]] is not valid with respect to either root schema or current default schema").toLowerCase();
+            final boolean isSchemaNotFound = ex.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains(pattern);
+            assertTrue(isSchemaNotFound);
+            throw ex;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = Exception.class)
+    public void testSchemaNotFoundForWrongWorkspace() throws Exception {
+        final String table = String.format("%s/empty", TestTools.getTestResourcesPath());
+        final String query = String.format("select * from dfs.tmp1.`%s`", table);
+        try {
+            testNoResult(query);
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            final String pattern = String.format("[[dfs, tmp1]] is not valid with respect to either root schema or current default schema").toLowerCase();
+            final boolean isSchemaNotFound = ex.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains(pattern);
+            assertTrue(isSchemaNotFound);
+            throw ex;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = Exception.class)
+    public void testSchemaNotFoundForWrongWorkspaceUsingDefaultWorkspace() throws Exception {
+        final String table = String.format("%s/empty", TestTools.getTestResourcesPath());
+        final String query = String.format("select * from tmp1.`%s`", table);
+        try {
+            testNoResult("use dfs");
+            testNoResult(query);
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            final String pattern = String.format("[[tmp1]] is not valid with respect to either root schema or current default schema").toLowerCase();
+            final boolean isSchemaNotFound = ex.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains(pattern);
+            assertTrue(isSchemaNotFound);
+            throw ex;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = Exception.class)
+    public void testTableNotFoundException() throws Exception {
+        final String table = String.format("%s/empty1", TestTools.getTestResourcesPath());
+        final String query = String.format("select * from tmp.`%s`", table);
+        try {
+            testNoResult("use dfs");
+            testNoResult(query);
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            final String pattern = String.format("[[dfs, tmp1]] is not valid with respect to either root schema or current default schema").toLowerCase();
+            final boolean isSchemaNotFound = ex.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains(pattern);
+            final boolean isTableNotFound = ex.getMessage().toLowerCase().contains(String.format("%s' not found", table).toLowerCase());
+            assertTrue(!isSchemaNotFound && isTableNotFound);
+            throw ex;
+        }
+    }
+}