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?

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-08-04T08:28:47+00:00

    Connect-ExchangeOnline -ConnectionUri "https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid?SerializationLevel=Full"

    This worked for me. Many Thanks Friedrich.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-29T17:15:26+00:00

    This solution saved my day! Thanks

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-22T18:15:19+00:00

    Hi Folks,

    while I'd love to offer new information on this, I have little substantial to share compared to previous week.

    We have spent a lot of hours, headaches and meetings on this. While we do make progress, it is slow and tedious, as transient issues like this tend to be (and our systems being seriously hardened even against casual internal access does not accelerate things, though security requires it).

    So, no new insights to share, no ETA, but I wanted to reconfirm that we are still on the chase and fully aware that this issue is still there :)

    Recapping a few things:

    The recommended workaround for this problem is to connect like this:

    Connect-ExchangeOnline -ConnectionUri "https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid?SerializationLevel=Full"

    This should work reliably - if it doesn't, we need to know! - and has the least impact.

    It will keep working after we fix the problem and the only penalty is a very slight performance impact. I strongly advice against using techniques that redirect the server connected to instead (such as specifying a delegate organization):

    • Your target endpoint is picked for optimal performance, redirecting is likely to cost more than increasing serialization level
    • By interfering with our endpoint selection, you likely prevent us from optimizing loads as dynamically as otherwise possible. Potentially affecting not only yourself but also other users.

    Individually, using this as a single person wouldn't matter much and you won't possibly see anybody's service denied through that, but you might negatively impact your org's Exchange Online PowerShell performance experience, if you do this across the board, especially if you forget to undo things as soon as things work again.

    Also, this form remains a valuable feedback tool for our engineers working on this (myself included). As this issue is transient, maintaining a fresh state of affected users helps us. It also ensures we can see the spread (if any).

    Thank you everybody for your patience and apologies for the inconvenience to all affected.

    Will update as soon as I have anything new to share.

    Cheers,

    Friedrich

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-07-22T17:25:33+00:00

    Friedrich, 

    Do you know if this workaround will function even after the final solution has been implemented? I'm working on building some automated scripts that need to connect to Exchange Online and I'm wondering if I'll need to continue to monitor this thread for information to potentially update those scripts again or if they'll mostly just be schedule-and-forget.

    Thanks,

    Chris

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-07-20T21:03:53+00:00

    for fun I changed the connectionUri to:

    -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell-liveid?DelegatedOrg=<customer tenant domain name>

    and it worked.

    I think this fixed me. Looks like script is running now! :) I'll know more soon as it usually takes 20-30 min to complete.

    Worked for me as well.  Was fine on Friday, had stopped working today.

    THANK YOU

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