Monday, April 29, 2013

How to Install and Configure PowerShell for Office 365 in Windows 8







The Office 365 online administrative interface is somewhat limited in its abilities. The PowerShell command line interface is needed to accomplish some of the less frequently used tasks and some tasks that seem like that should be included in the online GUI. Windows 8 includes PowerShell, but some setup is required for it to work with Office 365.

This post applies to Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise. I have not confirmed if it works with other versions of Windows 8.

To configure PowerShell for Office 365 you'll need to enable .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 8. See How to Install .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8 for details.

You’ll need the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant (below is a link to the current versions as of this post).

Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant for IT Professionals RTW

Finally, you need to download the Microsoft Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell (again, the links below are current as of this posting)

Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell (32-bit version)

Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell (64-bit version)


Install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant


Accept the terms of the License Agreement and click Install



Click Yes to allow the install to continue



Click Finish to complete the installation.


Install Microsoft Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell


Click Next



Accept the license agreement and click Next


Click the check box Create a shortcut on the desktop to your preference and click Next to accept the default installation location


Click Install to begin the installation


Click Yes to allow the install to continue


Click Finish to complete the installation.

That's it.

The installer for Windows Active Directory Module for PowerShell creates a new shortcut for PowerShell. You’ll need to use this shortcut to access Office 365 through PowerShell.

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