Passing Credentials in SharePoint Online Using PowerShell

Introduction

This article will describe different ways of managing the credentials for SharePoint online using PowerShell.

We can pass the credentials in three different ways.

Using Secured String

In this type, we are hardcoding the username and password and then passing it for authentication.

Disadvantage

The password is visible to everyone who has access to the PowerShell script.

Using File

By using this file, we can secure our credentials a little bit, as the password is stored in encrypted format.

Disadvantage

The secret file is stored at the local drive on our computer and can be decrypted using some tools.

Using Window Credential Manager.

This type is the most secured and recommended way to pass the credentials.

Disadvantage

In this type, the user should have admin right, otherwise, it will prompt for credentials everytime we run the script.

Using Secured String

Hardcode the credentials in the following variables:

$Username="Your userName"
$Password="Your Password"

The complete code will look like:

Function Login-SharePointOnline()
{
Try {
#Get Credentials to connect
$Username="Your userName"
$Password="Your Password"
$ListName="List Name"
$siteURL="Site Url"
$query = "<View>
</View>"
$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force
$Cred = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $securePassword)
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteURL)
$Ctx.Credentials = $Cred
#check context available or not
if (-not($Ctx)) {
Write-Host "Error connecting to SharePoint Online, unable to establish context" -foregroundcolor black -backgroundcolor Red
return
}
else
{
Write-Host "Connected to the Sharepoint Online successfully" -foregroundcolor green
}
#Get CAML Query object
$camlquery = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CamlQuery;
$camlquery.ViewXml= $query
$List = $Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)
$Items = $List.GetItems($camlquery)
$Ctx.Load($Items)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Get each value from list and print
ForEach($Item in $Items)
{
Write-Host "Item in the List is:"$Item["Title"]
}
Write-Host $SourceList
}
catch
{
Write-Host "Error connecting to SharePoint Online: $_.Exception.Message" -foregroundcolor black -backgroundcolor Red
return
}
}
#Calling function
Login-SharePointOnline

Using File

Follow the below steps to create a secret file and write the username and password into that file.

Step 1

I have created folder Arvind\safe under (D:\) drive. (You can create your own directory to save the secretfile).

Step 2

Open powershell window run as administrator and run the following script which will prompt for credentials.

$credentials = Get-Credential
$filename = 'D:\Arvind\safe\secretfile.txt'
$credentials | Export-Clixml -path $filename

Passing Credentials In SharePoint Online Using PowerShell

Provide your username and password and click the OK button to generate the secret file.

Ensure that the secret file is generated at our directory (D:\Arvind\safe\) and that it contains the username and password (encrypted format).

Step 3

To read and pass the credentials to sharepoint online, include the following lines in the script:

$credPath = 'D:\Arvind\safe\secretfile.txt'
$fileCred = Import-Clixml -path $credpath
$Cred = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($fileCred.UserName, $fileCred.Password)

The complete script for passing the credentials using file will look like the following:

Function Login-SharePointOnline()
{
Try {
#Get Credentials to connect
$ListName="ListName"
$siteURL="Site URL"
$query = "<View>
</View>"
$credPath = 'D:\Arvind\safe\secretfile.txt'
$fileCred = Import-Clixml -path $credpath
$Cred = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($fileCred.UserName, $fileCred.Password)
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteURL)
$Ctx.Credentials = $Cred
#check context available or not
if (-not($Ctx)) {
Write-Host "Error connecting to SharePoint Online, unable to establish context" -foregroundcolor black -backgroundcolor Red
return
}
else
{
Write-Host "Connected to the Sharepoint Online successfully" -foregroundcolor green
}
#Get CAML Query object
$camlquery = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CamlQuery;
$camlquery.ViewXml= $query
$List = $Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)
$Items = $List.GetItems($camlquery)
$Ctx.Load($Items)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Get each value from list and print
ForEach($Item in $Items)
{
Write-Host "Item in the List is:"$Item["Title"]
}
}
catch
{
Write-Host "Error connecting to SharePoint Online: $_.Exception.Message" -foregroundcolor black -backgroundcolor Red
return
}
}
#Calling function
Login-SharePointOnline

Using Window Credential Manager

First, we require SharePoint Online PnP cmdlets to use the above method.

To install the SharePoint online cmdlets refer the following article or enter the following command in PowerShell.

Install-Module SharePointPnPPowerShellOnline

Step 1

Open the window credential manager by typing credential manager in the search options.

Step 2

Click on Add a generic credential link under windows credentials.

Step 3

Enter the following details and click on the ok button.

Note

Under Internet or network address, it is a logical name that is used in the script to read the credentials.

Step 4

To read the credentials from the window credentials manager pass the logical name(created in step 3) as a parameter in the script.

Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteURL -Credentials SharePointCredentials

The complete code for passing the credentials using PNP cmdlets and window credentials manager is as follows:

Function Login-SharePointOnline()
{
Try {
$ListName="ListName"
$siteURL="site Url"
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteURL -Credentials SharePointCredentials
$ctx = Get-PnPContext
#check context available or not
if (-not($Ctx)) {
Write-Host "Error connecting to SharePoint Online, unable to establish context" -foregroundcolor black -backgroundcolor Red
return
}
else
{
Write-Host "Connected to the Sharepoint Online successfully" -foregroundcolor green
}
#Get CAML Query object
$camlquery = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CamlQuery;
$camlquery.ViewXml= $query
$List = $Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)
$Items = $List.GetItems($camlquery)
$Ctx.Load($Items)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Get each value from list and print
ForEach($Item in $Items)
{
Write-Host "Item in the List is:"$Item["Title"]
}
}
catch
{
Write-Host "Error connecting to SharePoint Online: $_.Exception.Message" -foregroundcolor black -backgroundcolor Red
return
}
}
#Calling function
Login-SharePointOnline

The complete script can be downloaded from attachment.

5 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Vinay Ayinapurapu5y ago
Very nice Arvind.. Thanks for detailed article.
Andries Joosse6y ago
Oh and by "without user interaction" I mean without having to type an username / password. It would be great if it could just pass that on from the current logged on user (like some sort of intergrated security).
- Arvind Kushwaha6y ago
  Hi Andries, You can store the username and password in flat file or using credentials manager. It is one time job, then use that username and password in our script. Make sure that you use the credentials whose username and password is not changing constantly.
Andries Joosse6y ago
Hello! Great article and explanation, thank you so much! Just a question. I'm trying to download a file to a local computer by using a Powershell script. The file is on a SharePoint Online library. The goal is to download the file without any user interaction. Do you think this would be possible in any way? The computer is Intune managed by the way, so we can push all sorts of configuration and scripts to it. Thank you so much in advance!
- Arvind Kushwaha6y ago
  Hi Andries, yes you can achieve it using powershell. refer this link https://www.sharepointdiary.com/2017/03/sharepoint-online-download-all-files-from-document-library-using-powershell.html