How to use Chrome browser for concurrent multiple connections to different Office 365 tenancies.





   All hail the King of Browsers !






The vast majority of Office 365 admins I know use Internet Explorer in InPrivate mode and Chrome browser in Incognito mode to be able to effectively administer multiple tenants or multiple user logins when working in the Office 365 portal. This is a valid workaround that works *most* of the time, but sometimes browser issues cause you to 'reconnect' to a different user or tenancy, which can cause much bigger issues if you start administering the incorrect tenant.

Chrome has an awesome feature that many Office 365 Administrators are not aware of. In fact, I was only made aware of this recently by someone who only just found out about it himself.

This feature allows a device user to create separate Chrome profiles for multiple users - Link.
The huge benefit of this feature to Office 365 administrators is the ability to have multiple Chrome windows open at the same time, with each window being logged into a different tenancy - all while in the standard browser not using incognito mode.

In the image below you can see that I have logged successfully into two different tenancies.


Utilising this great feature really makes administering multiple tenancies so much easier.

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Configuring Chrome for multiple profiles is really easy.
First make sure you have installed the latest version of Chrome.
Once installed, click on the user icon at the top of the browser window -
Then select - Manage people



A new window will appear.
Select - Add Person































In the Add Person screen - Enter a name for the profile and select an icon if you like.
For this profile, I have entered the name as the domain name of the tenancy for ease of use.
- Create a desktop shortcut for this user - keep selected if you want a desktop shortcut created.
Save






























Chrome will now open a new window with profile name in the bar.
As I have selected - Create a desktop shortcut for this user - it has also done that.
It has also created a desktop shortcut for the default user - Person 1


















As I would like to create another profile for my second tenancy, I need to repeat the process.
As I already have the teamterry365 Chrome profile loaded, I can simply click on the profile name to start the process again.
I then select - Manage people - to continue profile management to create the new profile.





















Repeat the process -

Select Add Person -






























Enter the profile name.
I am once again using the domain name for ease of use.






























Chrome has once again created the shortcut as requested, complete with icon.
I now have the two Chrome browser windows open, and I will show you the process for logging successfully into two separate tenancies.


















Login to the portal with the credentials for the two separate tenancies


















I can even take advantage of saving my password and selecting 'Stay Signed In'

















As you can see, I have successfully logged into the two separate tenancies.

















If you try to do this with Internet Explorer, the second browser session will automatically log in with the credentials of the first browser. Using IE with InPrivate browsing alleviates this issue most times, but I have had many issues with IE logging in with the credentials of the first session. I find Chrome is the much better solution.

An extra benefit of Chrome profiles is the ability to have different bookmarks in each profile.


















You can take this a step further and create bookmarks to take you directly to the Admin Portal of your choice, and depending on your session connectivity, in most circumstances you will log straight in.

Office 365 Admin Portal - https://portal.office.com/adminportal
Exchange Admin Center - https://outlook.office365.com/ecp
SharePoint Online Admin Center - https://TENANT-NAME-admin.sharepoint.com
Security and Compliance Center - https://protection.office.com
Azure Admin Portal - https://portal.azure.com
Intune Admin Portal - https://manage.microsoft.com/
OneDrive for Business Admin Portal - https://admin.onedrive.com

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Congratulations - You have you now configured Chrome browser for concurrent multiple connections to different Office 365 tenancies !

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While your here, check out my other tutorials -

Configure your Administration PC or Server
- How to configure your desktop PC for Office 365 Administration - including MFA - Link
- How to configure Server 2012 R2 for Office 365 Administration - including MFA - Link
- How to configure your desktop PC for Hybrid Exchange - Office 365 - Azure Administration - Link

Connection Scripts
- How to connect to Office 365 and Azure via PowerShell - Link
- How to connect to Hybrid Exchange - Office 365 - Azure AD and Local AD via PowerShell - Link
- How to connect to Office 365 via PowerShell with MFA - Multi-Factor Authentication - Link

Office 365 Migrations
How to configure Exchange 2013 - 2016 for Office 365 Hybrid - Link

All Hybrid Administration Tutorials
- How to configure your desktop PC for Hybrid Exchange - Office 365 - Azure Administration - Link
- How to connect to Hybrid Exchange - Office 365 - Azure AD and Local AD via PowerShell - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 01 - Creating local User mailboxes - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 02 - Creating local Exchange Shared Mailboxes - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 03 - Creating local Exchange Room and Equipment Mailboxes - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 04 - Configure the Hybrid Connection Wizard - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 05 - Individual mailbox moves via the EAC - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 06 - Bulk mailbox moves via the EAC - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 07 - Moving bulk mailboxes with PowerShell - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 08 - Creating Office 365 User Mailboxes via PowerShell - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 09 - Creating Office 365 Shared Mailboxes via PowerShell - Link
- Hybrid Management - Part 10 - Creating Office 365 Room and Equipment Mailboxes via PowerShell - Link

All Modern Authentication and MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) Tutorials
- All my MFA Tutorials on one page - Link
- How to configure your desktop PC for Office 365 Administration - including MFA - Link
- How to configure Server 2012 R2 for Office 365 Administration - including MFA - Link
- How to enable MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) for Office 365 administrators - Link
- How to connect to Office 365 via PowerShell with MFA - Multi-Factor Authentication - Link
- How to protect your Office 365 MFA admin account from cell phone SIM hijacking - Link
- MFA Support - PowerShell modules and resources for Office 365  - Link

Security
- How to protect your Office 365 MFA admin account from cell phone SIM hijacking - Link

Local Exchange Organization Administration Scripts and Tutorials
How to document the local Exchange Organization for As Built documents and auditing - Link

Enterprise Management
How to manage Enterprise environments - Part 1 - Filtering queries - Link
How to manage Enterprise environments - Part 2 - Creating scripts with a filtered query - Link
How to manage Enterprise environments - Part 3 - Bulk management using multiple filters - Link

PowerShell
How to create basic PowerShell scripts - Link
How to create basic PowerShell scripts with Export-CSV - Link
How to create basic PowerShell scripts with Import-CSV - Link
PowerShell modules and resources for Office 365 - Link

Downloads -
All my PowerShell TechNet Downloads - Link

Tips and Tricks -
General Tips and Tricks for better Office 365 Administration - Link
How to extend your Office 365 Trial - Link
How to get a 180 day trial tenant in Office 365 for testing - Link
PowerShell modules and resources for Office 365 - Link

3 comments:

  1. Very useful tutorial AND a great hat !!! thanks from BrisVegas Australia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feed-back. Glad you love my hat !!!
      It was a Bunnings hat wrapped in Christmas paper from the kids.
      Gotta love Bris-Vegas. I am born and bred Brissie guy.

      Delete
  2. This does not work when we have MFA setup in our environment, where we demand you login from a registered device. Even though i install the required Windows 10 Accounts extension from Microsoft, the crome running in another user content can't see the certificate on my PC and then i can't log in. Works fine with my normal profile. Have you any experience with this ?

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