Connect-PNPOnline returns connection in Dev, but an Array in Prod. (Begging for help)

[argRegEater]

Issue:

Connect-PNPOnline connects successfully to Dev and Prod M365 Tenants. Returns a PNPConnection object in Dev, but an PSArray in Prod. Get-PnPTeamsTeam fails with parsing error if using weird (see below) Prod connection.

$connection = Connect-PnPOnline -Url $URL -ClientId $clientID -Thumbprint $thumbprint -Tenant $tenant -ReturnConnection -validateconnection -verbose

• Dev connects successfully and $connection is a PNP connection object.
  • All PNP functions work as expected including Get-PnPTeamsTeam
• Prod connects successfully, but $connection is an array with 2 elements:
  • $connection[0] is of type string but is empty
  • $connection[1] is a standard PNP Connection object
• If I use the PNP connection object stored in $connection[1] as the -connection argument:
  • Most PNP functions work
  • Get-PnPTeamsTeam -connection $connection[1] results in
    • Input string was not in a correct format. Failure to parse near offset 260. Expected an ASCII digit.

Environment info

Operating environment

• I'm using latest stable PS 7.5 on a Windows 11 (arm) machine doing simple, script-based automation work in M365
• Am using certificate-based auth, utilizing a registered Entra App Registration with sufficient permissions
• Have tried this using the latest stable PNP build as well the PNP nightly build.

Get-Module Output
ModuleType Version PreRelease Name
Manifest 7.0.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Management
Manifest 7.0.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Script 1.4.8.1 PackageManagement
Manifest 2.99.184 nightly PnP.PowerShell
Script 2.2.5 PowerShellGet
Script 2.3.6 PSReadLine

Tenant Info

• Dev Tenant Information
  - Standard Microsoft Dev Tenant (M365DSxxxxxxx.OnMicrosoft.com/M365DSxxxxxxx.Sharepoint.com)
  - Have 2 dev tenants matching this pattern, including a brand new one. Both work exactly as expected
• Prod Tenant Information
  • Has been around a while, including some kind of migration to M365, probably from legacy sharepoint?
  • Has legacy Sharepoint groups I can't see in M365
  • Has Custom URLs for Tenant and Sharepoint.
    • M365 Tenant Primary URL does not match SharePoint URL, but Tenant has secondary URL that matches SharePoint URL. I tried different URLs for -url and -tenant including (domain)-admin.sharepoint.com
    • Extra random detail: Prod Sharepoint has some weird classic groups that I can't see in M365

Troubleshooting Attempts

• Tried multiple versions of PS7
• Tried multiple versions of PNP
• Tried to use Graph Explorer and -Verbose output to figure out what was going on with Prod Get-PnPTeamsTeam calls, but didn't have much luck.
• Uninstalled/Reinstalled PNP (both stable and nightly, same Get-PnPTeamsTeam failure but the debug output was slightly different, both referring to a parsing error)
• Uninstalled/Reinstalled PS7
• Googled, Clauded, and documentationed my brains out trying to find anything that would help

Theories

• Something is weird about my custom URLs that's throwing off PNP
  • Since I'm able to connect and run other PNP commands against the prod tenant, my -Thumbprint and -ClientID must be fine, that leaves only -url and -tenant to fiddle with
• Something is weird about the relationship between my prod M365 and some migrated aspect of an old Sharepoint tenant, which is throwing off both the connection process (leading to the returned array instead of connection) and whatever is throwing off Get-PNPTeamsTeam
• Some other black magic is going on because I'm a little new to the world of M365/Sharepoint

Cry for help

Appreciate you reading this far. At this point I'm taking shots in the dark and will take any ideas/help I can get. I'm including the verbose error messages below for reference.

Error Output:

Get-PnPTeamsTeam Output: Nightly Build (Prod)

Get-PnpTeamsTeam -Connection $connection[1] -Verbose

Line | 57 | $legacySites = Get-PnPTeamsTeam -Connection $connection -verbose | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Input string was not in a correct format. Failure to parse near offset 260. Expected an ASCII digit.

Get-PnPTeamsTeam Output: Stable Build (Prod)

Get-PnpTeamsTeam -Connection $connection[1] -Verbose

VERBOSE: Making GET call to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups?$filter=resourceProvisioningOptions/Any(x:x eq 'Team')&$select=Id,DisplayName,MailNickName,Description,Visibility&$top=100 VERBOSE: Response successful with HTTP 200 OK containing 1044 characters VERBOSE: Returning 5 PnP.PowerShell.Commands.Model.Graph.Group items VERBOSE: Making GET call to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/49dc4431-4ded-499f-a2d1-b1b3077a0e72 VERBOSE: Response successful with HTTP 200 OK containing 1344 characters VERBOSE: Making GET call to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/4e70001b-ff94-4f35-a5a0-e5fae945af8a VERBOSE: Response successful with HTTP 200 OK containing 1375 characters VERBOSE: Making GET call to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/33ae4ae0-f1f2-4845-887b-16f12b7bcb2c VERBOSE: Response successful with HTTP 200 OK containing 1366 characters VERBOSE: Making GET call to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/5a618679-a976-41e5-b83c-6dbca2e26c10 VERBOSE: Response successful with HTTP 200 OK containing 1377 characters VERBOSE: Making GET call to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/ad97a21f-56a5-4028-8b6d-e15cf26f8fcd VERBOSE: Response successful with HTTP 200 OK containing 1429 characters WARNING: Failed to parse response from server. Error message: 'The JSON value could not be converted to PnP.PowerShell.Commands.Model.Teams.TeamGiphyContentRating. Path: $.funSettings.giphyContentRating | LineNumber: 0 | BytePositionInLine: 1313.'. Received content:

{ "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#teams/$entity", "id": "<REDACTED>", "createdDateTime": "2024-08-10T14:19:28.028Z", "displayName": "<REDACTED>", "description": "<REDACTED>", "internalId": "19:9-<REDACTED>_M1@thread.tacv2", "classification": null, "specialization": "none", "visibility": "private", "webUrl": "https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3a9-<REDACTED>_M1%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=<REDACTED>&tenantId=<REDACTED>", "isArchived": false, "isMembershipLimitedToOwners": false, "discoverySettings": { "showInTeamsSearchAndSuggestions": false }, "tagSettings": null, "memberSettings": { "allowCreateUpdateChannels": true, "allowCreatePrivateChannels": true, "allowDeleteChannels": true, "allowAddRemoveApps": true, "allowCreateUpdateRemoveTabs": true, "allowCreateUpdateRemoveConnectors": true }, "guestSettings": { "allowCreateUpdateChannels": false, "allowDeleteChannels": false }, "messagingSettings": { "allowUserEditMessages": true, "allowUserDeleteMessages": true, "allowOwnerDeleteMessages": true, "allowTeamMentions": true, "allowChannelMentions": true }, "funSettings": { "allowGiphy": true, "giphyContentRating": "unknownFutureValue", "allowStickersAndMemes": true, "allowCustomMemes": true }, "summary": { "ownersCount": 1, "membersCount": 6, "guestsCount": 0 } }

. Model type to parse it to: 'PnP.PowerShell.Commands.Model.Teams.Team'.

[argRegEater]

Solution:

OK, after 12-ish hours I found the compound problem that caused this. I'm recounting in detail for anyone else facing similar issues. In short, dumb script monkey + a corrupt/weird M365Team.

Problem 1: The "Connect-PNPOnline returns array for prod only"

I built a wrapper around Connect-PNPOnline so I could switch between my dev/staging/prod environments. I used that wrapper to also give a warning if you were connecting to PNP in a production environment. Because of powershell function behavior, that wrapper was creating an inadvertent additional return value, thus automatically changing the function return variable into an Array. I was looking in the wrong place because I thought I was experiencing this bug or something similar.

The Read-host line not being assigned to a variable meant that my "enter" to advance beyond the prod warning was being recorded as an empty string, and since read-host wasn't assigned to a variable, it was automatically added as a return entity to for the function. Hence the first element of the returned $connection array was an empty string. It was only happening when working with Prod because Prod is the only one that had a warning prompting a user input, and thus creating the compound return.

Lesson of the day: Don't assume that 'return' in powershell overrides what happens above

Problem 2: Get-PNPTeamsTeam parsing error.

After a lot of digging, I discovered this parsing error was happening when PNP hit a particular team. That team had a '/' in its name. I changed the team name, but that didn't seem to have an effect (maybe I just didn't wait long enough). In the end, the team wasn't that important, so I backed up its data and deleted the team. After that, Get-PNPTeamsTeam ran just fine.

In the end, I assumed two things were related that weren't and it sent me right down the rabbit hole.

I need a drink. Happy coding everyone!