cannot connect to exchange online via powershell

Anonymous

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

$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

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

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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87 answers

Anonymous

2020-07-14T20:17:40+00:00

This is great Sandi! So I can just get rid of the Import-PSSession $Session line all together?

Funny, I had the -AllowClobber as well :) Such a funny name!

Appreciate this context and the work you did!
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Anonymous

2020-07-14T19:29:35+00:00

Thank you Friedrich!

The correct connection line has WORKED!!!! (virtual round of applause).

For everyone attached to this helpful thread, this was the line I used (additionally replacing the parameter -ConnectionUri when starting a new PSSession):

Connect-ExchangeOnline -ConnectionUri "https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid?SerializationLevel=Full" -Credential $UserCredential -ShowProgress $true

#PS Session

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid?SerializationLevel=Full

Hopefully this works for the majority of other users experiencing this hair pulling event log ;). It worked immediately once I run my runbook. Hopefully the issue can be isolated/resolved beyond the workaround.

Thank you again Friedrich!
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Anonymous

2020-07-14T19:20:32+00:00

This seems to work for me. Note my "old" connection used this command which required I import the session:

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection -WarningAction SilentlyContinue

Import-PSSession $Session -AllowClobber

Replaced that with this which no longer rquires the Import PSSession command:

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

2020-07-14T19:05:32+00:00

Hi Everybody,

just had one of those calls to try and trace the problem and noticed ... an unfortunate error.

Apologies to everybody, I had a typo in the workaround posted, which prevented it from working.

I fixed it in the original post, but here's the correct connection line:

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

Please try again, and if the workaround doesn't work for you, please absolutely fill out the form so we know.

Cheers,

Friedrich
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Anonymous

2020-07-14T18:58:29+00:00

Totally agree on a permanent solution. I've changed my processes to use my personal account which has tenant admin/enterpise AD privs so things will keep working. All my nightly processes run on a single server and I use an XML file to pull in the creds that the process will use when it runs. I changed the XML cred file to store my credentials so all my process will pick up the changed cred file when it runs. I store the XML file in the \Documents directory of the AD account that is running the process.

If it will help here is what I use to create the CredFile:

$me = whoami

$dir = "c:\users" + $me.Substring(($me.IndexOf("")+1),$me.length-($me.IndexOf("")+1)) + "\documents"

$File = "my" + ($me.Substring(($me.IndexOf("")+1),$me.length-($me.IndexOf("")+1))).replace(".","") + "File.xml"

$CredFile = $dir + $File

Get-Credential | Export-Clixml $CredFile

write-host "New Credential File Created for: " $me

Here is the command to import that cred file:

$LiveCred = Import-Clixml C:\Users<UsrDirectory>\Documents\my<UsrAcct>File.xml
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