Connecting to Skype for Business Online via PowerShell in a Hybrid Environment

How to connect to Skype for Business Online via Powershell

To connect to Skype for Business Online:

  • Download and install the module from Microsoft

  • Run the following commands in PowerShell:

    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector

    $sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName “[email protected]” -OverrideAdminDomain “yourtennant.onmicrosoft.com”

    Import-PSSession $sfboSession

    Applies To : Windows 10, Windows Server


    I’ve been caught out by this twice and it’s taken me a while to find the rather simple answer.

    Most instructions give you a pretty simple way to connect to Skype for Business Online (or they’ll just call it Skype for Business). You install the module via executable, downloaded from Microsoft, and then try to run the following PowerShell commands (or some similar variation):

    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector
    $sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName "[email protected]"
    Import-PSSession $sfboSession

    If you don’t have Skype for Business On-Premises, it should just work. If you DO have it and set up hybrid, you’ll probably get this error:

    Unable to discover PowerShell endpoint URI.
    At C:\Program Files\Common Files\Skype for Business
    Online\Modules\SkypeOnlineConnector\SkypeOnlineConnectorStartup.psm1:155 char:9
    +         throw $resources.DiscoveringEndpointFail
    +         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (Unable to disco...l endpoint URI.:String) [], RuntimeException
        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Unable to discover PowerShell endpoint URI.

    Or, you might get this error if you managed to get the interactive logon to pop up first and then entered your credentials there:

    Get-CsOnlinePowerShellAccessToken : One or more errors occurred.
    At C:\Program Files\Common Files\Skype for Business
    Online\Modules\SkypeOnlineConnector\SkypeOnlineConnectorStartup.psm1:214 char:28
    +             $accessToken = Get-CsOnlinePowerShellAccessToken @params
    +                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-CsOnlinePowerShellAccessToken], AggregateException
        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.AggregateException,Microsoft.Rtc.Management.OnlineConnector.GetPowerShellAccessTo
       ken

    There’s a huge amount of potential fixes offered, but for me it was one simple switch, which I found thanks to enterinit.com – use the -OverrideAdminDomain switch.

    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector
    $sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName "[email protected]" -OverrideAdminDomain “yourtennant.onmicrosoft.com”
    Import-PSSession $sfboSession

    Really easy fix, but the errors really don’t make it sound like this could be your problem. Now the next time I try to connect, I’ll re-read my own blog post to remind me of this switch :)

    Note: I had to connect to this to make a Microsoft Teams change!

    4 thoughts on “Connecting to Skype for Business Online via PowerShell in a Hybrid Environment

    1. Describes an issue in which Lync administrators can’t connect to Skype for Business Online Remote PowerShell in a Lync hybrid environment.

    Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.