Installing the SharePoint Online Management Shell on Windows 8.1

I’m running Windows 8.1 and attempted to install the SharePoint Online Management Shell. The instructions say you need to install Windows Management Framework 3.0 but this fails when you try to install it.

Turns out you don’t need it if you’re running 8.1. The new WMF 4.0 also won’t install, so don’t try it. Instead what you should do is download the SharePoint Online Management Shell directly and then run it. I encountered an error when running the Management Shell the first time.

Running the Management Shell as Administrator fixes the problem. To verify, run the get-module cmdlet and you’ll see the new modules loaded.

I then executed the cmdlet Connect-SPOService and connected fine.

[UPDATE 2014-03-27]

I received a question as to using the PowerShell ISE with this module. Yes, but you have to load the module manually. Use the following command in your ISE session

 Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell -DisableNameChecking

This will load the same module that the SharePoint Online Console loads. The “DisableNameChecking” attribute suppresses a message that warns the user that the module that MS uses is using unsupported verbs. Naughty!

The module loads fine and running the same get-module command also works as in the console.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Very nice article.
• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Amin: Yes. I've updated the post to explain how to do this.
• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thanks for the quick response and update Mario, this really helped me. (Y)
• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Is it possible to use PowerShell ISE for SharePoint online on windows 8.1?
• Anonymous
  March 27, 2014
  Hello Mario
  thanks for this info but I can't install SPO Shell on Win8.1 (or 2012 R2); it does not ask for Windows Management Framework 3.0 but for PowerShell 3.0 which is already install (I have all other Office 365 Sheels installed with no issue)
  Any thought?
  thanks
• Anonymous
  June 23, 2014
  Hoping you can point me in the right direction - I am running on 8.1 and follow the instructions above (installed and ran the SharePoint Online Management Shell as administrator)
  Import-Module seems to work fine and Get-Module shows the binary module is available, however there is nothing in the "ExportedCommands" column and when I try Connect-SPOService, I am told the term is not recognised. It is all very odd
  
  PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Get-Module
  
  ModuleType Version Name ExportedCommands
  ---------- ------- ---- ----------------
  Binary 15.0.45... Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.Powe...
  Manifest 3.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Management {Add-Computer, Add-Content, Checkpoint-Computer, Clear-Content...}
  
  
  PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-SPOService -Url https://ScriptingGuy-Admin.SharePoint.Com -Credential $cred
  Connect-SPOService : The term 'Connect-SPOService' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check
  the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
  
• Anonymous
  October 20, 2014
  Thanks
• Anonymous
  November 24, 2014
  The link for downloading the SharePoint Online Management Shell seems to be brokenhttp://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35588
• Anonymous
  February 23, 2015
  I absolutely love your blog and find nearly all of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for.
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• Anonymous
  February 23, 2015
  Information was good, I like your post.
  Looking forward for more on this topic.
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• Anonymous
  June 08, 2015
  many thanks :)
• Anonymous
  June 08, 2015
  Many Thanks :)
• Anonymous
  March 28, 2016
  Thanks Mario - instruction works for Windows 7 too!
• Anonymous
  March 29, 2016
  Nice article...