Menu to add distribution group in Exchange Admin Center 2016 is missing

Question

Menu to add distribution group in Exchange Admin Center 2016 is missing

Michael Walker 1

Normally, one would go into the Exchange Admin Center, click Recipients, then click Groups and from within Groups, one would click on the + sign to select the type of mail enabled distribution group they want to create. When attempting to do so in EAC this evening, I noticed that the + sign is missing. I cannot select the menu that allows me to create the group. Now, I have not researched how to add the group using Powershell, but I'm sure there's a way to do it, however, the fact that the menu is missing in the GUI makes me concerned that my Exchange server isn't operating properly, perhaps due to a bug, bad update or improperly installed patch. How do I restore the GUI functionality?

Michael Walker 1 Reputation point

2021-05-06T00:58:16.46+00:00

Missing Plus Sign

2 answers

Your answer

Michael Walker 1 Reputation point

2021-05-06T00:58:16.46+00:00

Missing Plus Sign

Answer 1

Eric Yin-MSFT 4,396

Hi,
1 Try if you can create a group via Exchange powershell:

 New-DistributionGroup -Name "ITDepartment" -Members ******@contoso.com,******@contoso.com,******@contoso.com,******@contoso.com

2 If failed, load Exchange module in Windows powershell and try creating a group again:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.SnapIn

3 Check the account that you using have enough permission:

4 Have you found any other signs missing in your EAC? Does it make a difference that you change the url to localhost/ecp or ex1.contoso.com/ecp or IPaddress/ecp?

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Eric Yin-MSFT 4,396 Reputation points

2021-05-11T09:42:09.76+00:00

I am writing here to confirm with you how the thing going now?
If you need further help, please provide more detailed information, so that we can give more appropriate suggestions.

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Answer 2

Michael Walker 1

Eric, 2 things:

First, I had my IT teammate login into Exchange using his admin credentials and he was able to add the group within the GUI. So the problem may be with just my own admin credentials. Secondly, based on your examples, when I first tried to use PS to create the group, it failed, stating:

New-DistributionGroup : The term 'New-DistributionGroup' 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.
At line:1 char:1

New-DistributionGroup -Name "grptest"

Next I tried loading the PSSnapin as you directed and after doing so, the commandlet to add the group worked. This was all done using my own admin credentials to the server. I was able to add the group, see it in the Exchange Admin Center under groups, and successfully email the group. However, that did not change the status of the GUI. The GUI was still missing the plus sign needed to add the group.

Finally, the commandlets to show rights did not return a summary:

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>$Perms = Get-ManagementRole -Cmdlet new-distributiongroup
[PS] C:\Windows\system32>$Perms | foreach {Get-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role $_.Name -Delegating $false | Format-Table
-Auto Role,RoleassigneeType,RoleAssigneeName

>
>
>
>
> ^C

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>

Eric Yin-MSFT 4,396 Reputation points

2021-05-12T09:52:41.607+00:00

Hi,
You missed a } in your commands.

Your issue seems realted to AD split permissions, did you run Setup.exe /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms /PrepareAD /ActiveDirectorySplitPermissions:true when installing Exchange, try if the steps fix the issue: Switch to RBAC split permissions
Michael Walker 1 Reputation point

2021-05-13T22:16:37.753+00:00

One other interesting observation is that while I cannot add a group with my admin account, the PLUS sign is there for me to add a mailbox. Does this still sound like a RBAC split permission issue?
Michael Walker 1 Reputation point

2021-05-13T22:25:10.467+00:00

Role RoleAssigneeType RoleAssigneeName

Distribution Groups RoleGroup Organization Management
Distribution Groups RoleGroup Recipient Management

Role RoleAssigneeType RoleAssigneeName

Security Group Creation and Membership RoleGroup Organization Management
Eric Yin-MSFT 4,396 Reputation points

2021-05-17T09:42:01.403+00:00
"One other interesting observation is that while I cannot add a group with my admin account, the PLUS sign is there for me to add a mailbox. Does this still sound like a RBAC split permission issue?"

I'm getting confused, does the PLUS sign show in your EAC or not? And can you do it via Powershell?

The commands I offer, is to check which role group is needed for the command "New-distributiongroup", the following command should work better for you(replace your account with <UserIdentity>):

Get-ManagementRoleAssignment -RoleAssignee <UserIdentity> -Delegating $false | Format-Table -Auto Role,RoleAssigneeName,RoleAssigneeType

Is "Distribution groups" listed in the results?
Michael Walker 1 Reputation point

2021-06-07T16:40:38.603+00:00
I notice the default Domain Admin account has the following Exchange Rights:

Exchange Public Folder Administrators

My teammate who also has a separate Domain Admin account to use for management purposes, has these Exchange Rights:

Discovery Management

Exchange Organization Administrators

I do not understand why why there is a mismatch in account permissions. I have not edited these rights, and I don't suspect my teammate did either. What I do know is that my teammate's admin login is capable of making the group edits when the default Domain Admin account cannot. I also learned just now that the default Domain Admin account is unable to set mailbox forwarding settings for mailboxes other than the Administrator mailbox.

Do I need to add the Exchange Organization Administrators right to the default Domain Admin account to solve my problem?
Eric Yin-MSFT 4,396 Reputation points

2021-06-08T07:59:06.813+00:00

Hi,
Exchange Public Folder Administrators, Exchange Organization Administrators are Exchange administrator roles introduced in Exchange 2007, where do you see them?
Yes you can try adding Exchange Organization Administrators and I suppose it would solve your problem, but in Exchange 2016, Exchange Organization Administrators role has been equivalent to Organization Management role and normally we should check if the admin account is a member of Organization Management and Recipient Management in EAC-Permissions-Admin roles: Manage role group members
Michael Walker 1 Reputation point

2021-06-09T22:12:56.343+00:00

Adding those 2 rights to the dom admin account solved my problem! Thank you for your assistance!
Eric Yin-MSFT 4,396 Reputation points

2021-06-10T01:33:25.88+00:00

Actually you found it by yourself, accept it as answer to close this up, thanks.

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Menu to add distribution group in Exchange Admin Center 2016 is missing

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