Students forming Groups on O365

[speckytecky]

I stand by for incoming but I've just been on the Admin section of O365 and find that some of our students have been able to set up Groups and nominate themselves as Admins in those groups. Is that a meant to be feature or a weakness that I need to seek MS support advice on?

[zag]

You will need to disable the groups feature using powershell.

 

How to enable/disable Groups in Office 365 |

[Steve21]

Feature as it allows users to create own groups blah blah (Assuming you mean the public groups?)

 

Take MyDistributionGroups off their roles

[StephenHardy]

PITA - I can share my scripts if needed, we turn off most things for our students as they started using it like Facebook

[bclarke]

PITA - I can share my scripts if needed, we turn off most things for our students as they started using it like Facebook

@StephenHardy I would love to have a copy of those scripts if possible. Amazing that students see something like this and immediately use it like Facebook.

[StephenHardy]

@bclarke - no worries - I've PM'd you a dropbox link

[MikeGreen]

@StephenHardy would I be able to get a copy of those scripts if at all possible? We have just pushed out a script to prevent the users for creating groups as they had previously been able to but I do wonder if there are any other things we may have missed.

 

Thanks

[StephenHardy]

@ MikeGreen PM'd you

[MikeGreen]

@StephenHardy Thanks you very much!

[Steve21]

@StephenHardy Same same if possible

 

Thanks,

Steve

[StephenHardy]

@Steve21 - PM'd

[Steve21]

Thank you

 

Steve

[zag]

Why are you PM'ing, share it for everyone

[speckytecky]

Yes please.

PITA - I can share my scripts if needed, we turn off most things for our students as they started using it like Facebook

[StevieM]

Me too, please, @StephenHardy. Thanks.

[StephenHardy]

PM'd you both

[StevieM]

Thanks. I can't access dropbox from school, but I'll have a look when I get home tonight.

[Oaktech]

Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick here you can do it through the GUI too...

 

Step 1: Edit the default role assignment policy or create a new role assignment policy

 

Depending on the particular scenario and the kind of organization, Exchange Online admins have two options for using a role assignment policy to control whether users can create and manage distribution groups. These options are as follows:

If you want to apply the policy to all users in your organization, edit the default role assignment policy.

If you have already created several role assignment policies or if you only want to disable this feature for a subset of users in your organization, create a new role assignment policy.

Do one of the following things, as appropriate for your situation:

Edit the default role assignment policy

 

To edit the default role assignment policy, follow these steps:

Sign in to the Office 365 portal as an admin, click Admin, and then click Exchange to open the Exchange admin center.

In the left navigation pane click permissions, and then click user roles.

Double-click Default Role Assignment Policy.

Click to clear the MyDistributionGroups check box and the MyDistributionGroupMembership check box.

Click Save.

Create a new role assignment policy

 

To create a new role assignment policy, follow these steps:

Sign in to the Office 365 portal as an admin, click Admin, and then click Exchange to open the Exchange admin center.

In the left navigation pane click permissions, and then click user roles.

Click New (A screen shot of the New icon).

Type a name for the new role assignment policy, and then click to select the options that you want. Make sure that the MyDistributionGroups check box and the MyDistributionGroupMembership check box are cleared.

Click Save.

 

Step 2: Apply the role assignment policy

 

Important If you only use one role assignment policy in your organization, you don't have to follow this step.

 

After you set up the role assignment policy, apply the policy. Be aware that if you changed the default role assignment policy, you don't have to reapply it. However, if you created a new role assignment policy, you must apply it to users in your organization.

 

To apply the role assignment policy, use one of the following methods, as appropriate for your situation.

Manually apply the role assignment policy to one user by using the Exchange admin center

 

To apply the role assignment policy to one user, follow these steps:

Sign in to the Office 365 portal as an admin, click Admin, and then click Exchange to open the Exchange admin center.

In the left navigation pane, click recipients, and then click mailboxes.

Double-click the mailbox to which you want to apply the policy.

In the mailbox details window, click mailbox features, and then in the Role assignment policy box, select the policy that you want to apply.

Click Save.

 

Taken from here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2580991

[woodham]

Stephen hardy can I get a copy as well please

[speckytecky]

Turns out the lads did this work under the direction of their ICT Teacher and he wants them to continue being able to do so. Can't say I'm happy about it. On the other hand it makes a nice change to have a Head of IT who actually knows what they are doing!

 

Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick here you can do it through the GUI too...

 

 

 

Taken from here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2580991

[Edu-IT]

What commands are people using to disable groups? I've tried appending -GroupCreationEnabled $false to the end of the Set-OwaMailboxPolicy command, but it says it's set to disabled, but groups is still showing in OWA?

[Edu-IT]

Nobody?

[Boredguy]

Groups will still show, but they should be unable to create a new one.

 

At least our students get an error when they try...

[jamin100]

Can i get a copy of the script please @StephenHardy

[ITAdmin]

I would also like a copy of the scripts please @StephenHardy