PowerShell – Setting User name Get-Credential to log into Office 365

The PowerShell command Get-Credential is used to collect user credentials.

When I try to connect to Office 365 I’m suing this dialog to collect the login details of a user. I find it however very annoying that I have to keep supplying the user’s name and password. Ok, password is fine but the username is annoying especially with the long Office 365 logins ( ….@mytenant.onmicrosoft.com).

When I looked at the options for Get-Credential I noticed -Username. This is a great option as I can now do something like:

[code lang=text]
Get-Credential -UserName “pieter.veenstra@mytenant.onmicrosoft.com”
[/code]

But no, still an empty login window.

Then I tried the -Message option. Why would this possibly be relevant???

[code lang=text]
Get-Credential -Message “Supply password” -UserName “pieter.veenstra@mytenant.onmicrosoft.com”
[/code]

The username is now set and I can type in my password. Well that saves be some time during the development of my PowerShell scripts.

Now a little check around the code and I only need to sign in once:

[code lang=text]
if ( $cred -ne $null)
{
$cred = Get-Credential -Message “Supply password” -UserName “pieter.veenstra@mytenant.onmicrosoft.com”
Connect-SPOnline -Url “https:/ /mytenant.sharepoint.com” -Credentials $cred
}
[/code]

Pieter Veenstra

Is your business still running on paper trails, sprawling Excel files, or ageing Access databases? There's a better way — and I can show you exactly what it looks like. I'm the Technical Director of Vantage 365, a Microsoft solutions consultancy working with clients across the UK, the Netherlands, and worldwide. For over 30 years I've been turning messy, manual business processes into clean, automated systems that save time, reduce errors, and give teams the visibility they need to make better decisions. SharePains is not just any blog run by a Microsoft MVP. Have you ever used Try-Catch in Power Automate? The original post about Try-Catch in Power Automate can still be found on this site, https://sharepains.com/2018/02/07/try-catch-finally-in-power-automate-flow/ Or have you ever used the Pieter’s method to avoid variables and speed up your flows? https://sharepains.com/2020/03/11/pieters-method-for-advanced-in-flows/ You can contact me using contact@sharepains.com