PowerShell MFA opens browser instead of mini-browser

Question

Recently I reset my Windows 11 PC and also upgraded to PowerShell 7.4.2. Something is now causing any MFA sessions in PowerShell to launch a new tab in my default browser rather than opening a mini-browser to handle the modern authentication. It should be popping up a window as described in the Exchange Online article but it's opening the browser instead. It's really just an annoyance because my default browser can accumulate multiple sign-ins rather than just my daily user account.

This is pretty hard to even search for because the keywords I'm using are so general. I can't find a solution or even others who have this problem. How do I make PowerShell return to the behavior to open the mini-browser rather than a new tab in my browser? I might just reset my PC again!

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/exchange/connect-to-exchange-online-powershell?view=exchange-ps

Answer 1

Hi David Dawson 100，

According to the link in your post, in PowerShell 7, browser-based single sign-on (SSO) is used by default, so the sign-in prompt opens in your default web browser instead of a standalone dialog. So I think it's an expected behavior to open your browser in PowerShell 7 and you can keep running the script in Windows PowerShell 5.1 if you still want to use the standalone dialog.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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