Install and Use Microsoft Exchange Online PowerShell Modules (Developer Machine)

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The document provides a simple guide to how to install and use the Microsoft Exchange Online PowerShell modules to interact with Microsoft 365 infrastructure for the purposes of administering the Microsoft 365 infrastructure and applications; i.e. how to setup your Developer Machine.

You may be able to install modules without administrative rights by adding the “scope” argument, for example:

Install-Module -name <whatever> -scope CurrentUser

The installation of the Microsoft Exchange Online Management PowerShell modules can be a bit involved.

Step 1 – Install Module(s)

There are a few steps to perform: 

Install-Module PowerShellGet -Force

If you see the error “Error: PowerShellGet Requires NuGet….”

To resolve run:

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

Then run:

Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet

You may also need to run:

Install-Module PowerShellGet -Force -AllowClobber

Now, you are ready to install the Microsoft Exchange Online module. So let’s do that.

Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

You can also add on the end -Scope CurrentUser to avoid needing administrative permissions.

The installation may take a few minutes.

Upgrade (if Required)

To upgrade the existing version you can run:

Update-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement

To verify its upgraded to the expected version you can run:

Get-InstalledModule ExchangeOnlineManagement

You’ll get an output such as:

Step 2 – Example Connection

Once the module is installed, you can then use it, however you may need to import it before you can use it.

Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

Remember PIM, if you require elevated permissions, ensure you have elevated permissions via PIM before you complete these steps.

Now we can make the connection:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName <UPN> [-ExchangeEnvironmentName <Value>] [-ShowBanner:$false] [-DelegatedOrganization <String>] [-SkipLoadingFormatData]

Here’s a simple example connection command:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName fred.bloggs@domain.com

You may be redirected to your organisation’s SSO to enter your passowrd, and challenged for MFA response.

If you are prompted for signing in all desktop apps, click on “No, this app only”, we only want to use this user session with our PowerShell window.

Once successfully connected you should see:

Step 3 – Perform a Test Query

Let’s perform a test query to retrieve all the mailboxes within our Microsoft Exchange Online environment, spoiler alert, we only have 2 in our case!

get-mailbox

And we get this output:

Step 4 – Disconnect

Once you’ve finished your work, you then need to disconnect, although not essential it is recommended, omit the “-Confirm:$false” if you wish to be prompted.

Disconnect-ExchangeOnline -Confirm:$false

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