Connecting to Exchange Online for an Office 365 tenant with PowerShell is a reasonably simple task. All you need is PowerShell on your computer, which is included by default in any recent version of Windows and Windows Server.
There are three basic steps for connecting to Exchange Online with PowerShell, and you’ll find these in official help documentation on TechNet as well as on many blogs. The steps are:
- Capture credentials
- Create a new PSSession
- Import the PSSession
You can streamline this process by adding a custom function to your PowerShell profile. Here are two functions you can use for connecting and disconnecting from Exchange Online.
Function Connect-EXOnline {
$URL = "https://ps.outlook.com/powershell"
$Credentials = Get-Credential -Message "Enter your Office 365 admin credentials"
$EXOSession = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri $URL -Credential $Credentials -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection -Name "Exchange Online"
Import-PSSession $EXOSession
}
Function Disconnect-EXOnline {
Remove-PSSession -Name "Exchange Online"
}
After adding the functions to your PowerShell profile open a new console session and run Connect-O365 to connect.
PS C:UsersPaul> Connect-EXOnline
A dialog will popup asking for your Office 365 admin credentials. After a short wait the connection will be established and you can run cmdlets such as Get-Mailbox to list the mailbox users in Exchange Online for your Office 365 tenant.
PS C:UsersPaul> Connect-EXOnline
WARNING: Your connection has been redirected to the following URI:
"https://pod51055psh.outlook.com/powershell-liveid?PSVersion=4.0 "
WARNING: The names of some imported commands from the module 'tmp_g5b5ehu0.amo' include unapproved verbs that might
make them less discoverable. To find the commands with unapproved verbs, run the Import-Module command again with the
Verbose parameter. For a list of approved verbs, type Get-Verb.
ModuleType Version Name ExportedCommands
---------- ------- ---- ----------------
Script 1.0 tmp_g5b5ehu0.amo {Add-O365AvailabilityAddressSpace, Add-O365DistributionGro...
PS C:UsersPaul> Get-Mailbox
Name Alias ServerName ProhibitSendQuota
---- ----- ---------- -----------------
Alan.Reid Alan.Reid sixpr04mb240 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Alannah.Shaw Alannah.Shaw sinpr04mb012 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Bernadette.Hemming Bernadette.Hemming hkxpr04mb360 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Bernadette.O'Connell Bernadette.O'Connell sixpr04mb240 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Debbie.Dalgliesh Debbie.Dalgliesh sinpr04mb121 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Debbie.Lisa Debbie.Lisa sinpr04mb364 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
DiscoverySearchMailbox... DiscoverySearchMa... sixpr04mb015 50 GB (53,687,091,200 bytes)
Ivana.Ferrary Ivana.Ferrary sixpr04mb191 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Jack.Hirschorn Jack.Hirschorn hkxpr04mb134 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Kathy.Abdullahi Kathy.Abdullahi sinpr04mb329 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Kavita.Sheikh Kavita.Sheikh sinpr04mb090 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Melanie.Thomas Melanie.Thomas sixpr04mb352 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Merle.Elam Merle.Elam sixpr04mb0382 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
admin admin sixpr04mb048 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Rowena.Khan Rowena.Khan hknpr04mb257 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Rupinder.Zaveri Rupinder.Zaveri sinpr04mb267 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Theresa.Bolt Theresa.Bolt hknpr04mb226 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Tina.Miller Tina.Miller sixpr04mb189 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
To disconnect the session use the Disconnect-EXOnline function.
PS C:UsersPaul> Disconnect-EXOnline
As an additional tip, if you’re running a hybrid configuration and using an Exchange Management Shell session to connect to Office 365 you may run into issues due to the same cmdlets being available in both your on-premises Exchange and Exchange Online. In that situation you can use Jeff’s tip of adding a prefix to the Import-PSSession command.
For example:
Function Connect-EXOnline {
$URL = "https://ps.outlook.com/powershell"
$Credentials = Get-Credential -Message "Enter your Office 365 admin credentials"
$O365Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri $URL -Credential $Credentials -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $O365Session -Prefix "EXO"
}
You might prefer to use a prefix of “Online” or “Cloud” instead. Really it is up to you. But when you do this the prefix is added to the cmdlets for your Office 365 session, so Get-Mailbox becomes Get-EXOMailbox instead.
PS C:UsersPaul> Get-EXOMailbox Name Alias ServerName ProhibitSendQuota ---- ----- ---------- ----------------- Alan.Reid Alan.Reid sixpr04mb240 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Alannah.Shaw Alannah.Shaw sinpr04mb012 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Bernadette.Hemming Bernadette.Hemming hkxpr04mb360 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Bernadette.O'Connell Bernadette.O'Connell sixpr04mb240 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Debbie.Dalgliesh Debbie.Dalgliesh sinpr04mb121 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Debbie.Lisa Debbie.Lisa sinpr04mb364 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) DiscoverySearchMailbox... DiscoverySearchMa... sixpr04mb015 50 GB (53,687,091,200 bytes) Ivana.Ferrary Ivana.Ferrary sixpr04mb191 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Jack.Hirschorn Jack.Hirschorn hkxpr04mb134 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Kathy.Abdullahi Kathy.Abdullahi sinpr04mb329 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Kavita.Sheikh Kavita.Sheikh sinpr04mb090 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Melanie.Thomas Melanie.Thomas sixpr04mb352 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Merle.Elam Merle.Elam sixpr04mb0382 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) admin admin sixpr04mb048 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Rowena.Khan Rowena.Khan hknpr04mb257 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Rupinder.Zaveri Rupinder.Zaveri sinpr04mb267 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Theresa.Bolt Theresa.Bolt hknpr04mb226 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes) Tina.Miller Tina.Miller sixpr04mb189 49.5 GB (53,150,220,288 bytes)
Hi,
Connect-MsolService’ is not recognized in poweshell, newly setup kindly help to fix it.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the great blog, it saved me a lot of troubles and time!
I’m trying to stay away from MS as much as possible because of it’s painful administration but your blog makes it much less painful!
Thanks again.
Hi Paul,
This is a really excellent article and works like a charm.
I was wondering, if you had 20 domains in O365 and you then added 3 users and used this script, that would be perfect. However, when a 4th person is on-boarded to O365 \ Exchange Online, and they need the 20 domains adding as smtp addresses, how would you use the script for just one user?
The Real Person!
Author Paul Cunningham acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
This script is for connecting a PowerShell session to Office 365 for management purposes. Not sure how your question relates to that.
I am using Office 365 Small Bus. Premium and only know how to use the online UI ‘Exchange Admin Center’. How can I control the sent items behavior for shared mailboxes when delegates send mail as the mailbox, or on behalf of the mailbox using the web-based UI? I launch it via https://outlook.office365.com/ecp/
The Real Person!
Author Paul Cunningham acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
I really recommend you start learning to use PowerShell. Some tasks can only be performed in PowerShell so if you don’t learn it you will be limited in what you can do.
I know this blog is a year old but wondered if there was a simple option for connecting to EXO while using MFA. The process now is to go to Exchange Hybrid page of your EXO admin center and click ‘Configure’ under the Powershell module. This is the only module that supports MFA to EXO. This adds the ‘Microsoft Exchange Online Powershell Module’ to my start menu but it’s not possible to call Connect-EXOPSSession from my regular powershell. Now I have to open a specific shell and run my scripts through that. It would be nice to have that module available in regular windows shell. Any ideas?
I would like to do the same thing.
The Real Person!
Author Paul Cunningham acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
They aren’t shipping it as a separate module right now, so the short answer is, no.
Presumably one day they will ship it as a module.
Long answer, when you have it loaded you can work out the temp folder path where it’s been loaded from, copy those files to another location, and then you can reference that in scripts or whatever you need. Downside, it won’t auto-update the module each time you run it.
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Hi Paul,
Good Day!
I’m trying to import all modules in a single PowerShell using the below Script. Everything is working fine but when I try to execute a command Get-User “Username” .. powershell is getting crashed and closing. Please help me..
All modules here are :
1. Exchange online powershell.
2. Azure online
3. On premise AD module
4. Exchange 2010 on premise module.
$SecureData = cat C:ScriptO365EnbaleDisablekishorecred.txt | convertto-securestring
$365Cred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList “kishore@mydomain.com”,$SecureData
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $365Cred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $Session
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
. ‘C:Program FilesMicrosoftExchange ServerV14binRemoteExchange.ps1’ Connect-ExchangeServer -auto
sleep -Seconds 10
Connect-MsolService -Credential $365Cred
Import-Module MSOnline
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Thank you
Kishore
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Hi Paul, I just created something similar for myself and I’m running PowerShell v3 on Windows 7 and find that the commands aren’t recognised after I connect. If I use the same commands outside of a PowerShell function, then the script works fine. It seems like the imported session isn’t available after the function has completed?
The Real Person!
Author Paul Cunningham acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
Run the commands manually and watch for errors.
I’m having the same issue here. Commands work fine manually — All the remote commands import correctly including Exchange commands. But as a function, the MSOL commands are importing but not the Exchange commands (e.g. Get-MSOLuser works but Get-Mailbox is unrecognized).
Hi Paul,
thanks for the perfect article .
can we use a non-global admin credentials(user management or service) admin ?
I tried that from c# code and it’s seem that is not possible .
thanks in advance .
Hi Paul,
I need Customer GUID, Subscription GUID which were created by OrderManagement API (CreateCustomerAccount, PlaceOrder) with Office 365 PowerShell (either Exchange or MSOL) script.
Is it possible?
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Sashi
I’m no sure, but in disconnect function should be Remove-PSSession -Name “Office 365” not Remove-PSSession -Name “Exchange Online”
The Real Person!
Author Paul Cunningham acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
Yep, it needs to match. I made a typo.