A few steps to enable management of your Office 365 subscription using Powershell. One uses Powershell because not all configuration is available through the Office 365 Portal, and it's also useful for automation.

Note that the old method of installing the Azure Active Directory Module is deprecated. The only supported way is to install the cmdlets directly through Powershell, as described below.

UPDATE (2018-07-09): removed all deprecated information.

UPDATE (2016-04-20): updated links and information.

Installing the Office 365 cmdlets

1. Download and install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant.
2. Download and install Windows Management Framework 5.1.
3. Open an elevated Powershell, and run the following command:

   Install-Module MSOnline

   When prompted, confirm the installation and its dependencies:
   

After the installation, the necessary cmdlets will become available.

Manage Office 365

To actually make a connection, start the Windows Azure AD Powershell:

Connect-MsolService

This will allow you to manage all things Office365 related, but not Exchange Online.

Manage Exchange Online

There are currently two methods. It is highly recommended to use the supported method, but if for reason, it is not possible, you can use the deprecated method on the condition the account you use to connect does not have MFA enabled.

• Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell by using MFA (preferred)
• Managing Exchange Online using Powershell (deprecated)