cannot connect to exchange online via powershell

Anonymous
2020-06-24T16:23:06+00:00

I am unable to access exchange online via powershell anymore. it has been about 2 or 3 months since i have tried but this used to work with no issues. 

I have tried connecting 3 ways, all of which fail with the same error

#1

$UserCredential = Get-Credential

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

Import-PSSession -Session $Session -DisableNameChecking

the progress bar comes up, it says importing and counts up to 6 or 700 commands as expected then the unexpected error message:

Import-PSSession : Data returned by the remote Get-FormatData command is not in the expected format.

After that, none of the commands work - example Get-Mailbox 

#2

Connect-EXOPSSession -UserPrincipalName ******@x.com

same deal. same error

Import-PSSession : Data returned by the remote Get-FormatData command is not in the expected format.

At C:\Users\x\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\A53V0WOT.PE1\6Y7OL9NA.H46\micr..tion_1f16bd4ec4c2bb19_0010.0000_673f37

c317fb5976\CreateExoPSSession.ps1:311 char:40

  • ...      $PSSessionModuleInfo = Import-PSSession $PSSession -AllowClobber

+                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidResult: (:) [Import-PSSession], ArgumentException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ErrorMalformedDataFromRemoteCommand,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportPSSessionCommand

#3

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName ******@x.com -ShowProgress $true

same deal. same error

The module allows access to all existing remote PowerShell (V1) cmdlets in addition to the 9 new, faster, and more reliable cmdlets.

|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|    Old Cmdlets                    |    New/Reliable/Faster Cmdlets       |

|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|    Get-CASMailbox                 |    Get-EXOCASMailbox                 |

|    Get-Mailbox                    |    Get-EXOMailbox                    |

|    Get-MailboxFolderPermission    |    Get-EXOMailboxFolderPermission    |

|    Get-MailboxFolderStatistics    |    Get-EXOMailboxFolderStatistics    |

|    Get-MailboxPermission          |    Get-EXOMailboxPermission          |

|    Get-MailboxStatistics          |    Get-EXOMailboxStatistics          |

|    Get-MobileDeviceStatistics     |    Get-EXOMobileDeviceStatistics     |

|    Get-Recipient                  |    Get-EXORecipient                  |

|    Get-RecipientPermission        |    Get-EXORecipientPermission        |

|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|

To get additional information, run: Get-Help Connect-ExchangeOnline or check https://aka.ms/exops-docs

Send your product improvement suggestions and feedback to ******@service.microsoft.com. For issues related to the module, contact Microsoft support. Don't use the feedback alias for problems or support issues.

Import-PSSession : Data returned by the remote Get-FormatData command is not in the expected format.

At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ExchangeOnlineManagement\1.0.1\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:454 char:40

  • ... oduleInfo = Import-PSSession $PSSession -AllowClobber -DisableNameChe ...

+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidResult: (:) [Import-PSSession], ArgumentException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ErrorMalformedDataFromRemoteCommand,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportPSSessionCommand

At this point effectively unable to admin exchange online via powershell. Anyone have any ideas?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For business | Other

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-29T14:27:39+00:00

    I have the same error today,

    I tried even in PowerShell Core, and It is the same error importing the PSSession, since I needed some emergency access, I couldn't wait, so I did the following:

    1. Created a Session with basic Authentication,

    $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedir

    ection

    1. Once session is opened, then run

    Enter-PSSession $session

    and Voila,

    It won't give you the best experience though, but if you need to get in, you have it.

    Thanks for that...it does allow me to connect remotely and accomplish basic needs.

    Points squarely at "Import-PSSession" being the problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-06-29T14:19:38+00:00

    Have the same issue, I tried to connect to EXO under 2 different accounts from the same machine, one was successfully connected and other gets error:

    Import-PSSession : Data returned by the remote Get-FormatData command is not in the expected format.

    I used Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet

    Anyone found solution for this strange problem ?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-06-26T13:11:38+00:00

    Had the same problem for more than a week. In my case I managed to solve it by switching the connection from a cloud only user account to a on-prem AD User synced to O365. 

    Maybe this will help everyone else.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-06-26T12:37:24+00:00

    We are still having the same issue here.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-06-25T14:38:11+00:00

    Hi George,

    Thanks for the tips. Windows Remote Management is running, and basic auth is enabled as per the documentation. There is no proxy server in the network. 

    I saw there was a logging mechanism in the V2 EOL powershell so I did the following

    Connect-ExchangeOnline -EnableErrorReporting -LogDirectoryPath "c:\eol_log" -LogLevel All  -UserPrincipalName ******@x.com -ShowProgress $true

    The failure was the same, here is the log:

    Version,Organization,ScriptName,ScriptExecutionGuid,CommandName,CommandParams,RecordCount,SentBytesCount,TotalLatencyMs,ErrorLog

    v2,,,,Connect-ExchangeOnline,EnableErrorReporting;LogDirectoryPath;LogLevel;UserPrincipalName;ShowProgress,0,0,0,FullyQualifiedErrorId=ErrorMalformedDataFromRemoteCommandMicrosoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportPSSessionCommand;CategoryInfo=InvalidResult: (:) [Import-PSSession] ArgumentException;ExceptionType=System.ArgumentException;;ExceptionMessage=System.ArgumentException: Data returned by the remote Get-FormatData command is not in the expected format.\r\n   at System.Management.Automation.MshCommandRuntime.ThrowTerminatingError(ErrorRecord errorRecord)|

    This is the same error that I get when I call it using the older methodology:

    $UserCredential = Get-Credential

    $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

    Import-PSSession -Session $Session -DisableNameChecking

    The line which fails is the Import-PSSession line. This all used to work for me without issue.

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