Users in an Exchange hybrid deployment can't access Microsoft 365 groups in Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, and Outlook for Microsoft 365

Original KB number:   3168347

Symptoms

You have a hybrid deployment of Exchange Online in Microsoft 365 and on-premises Exchange Server. In this situation, your Autodiscover record resolves to an on-premises Exchange server, and users' mailboxes are in Exchange Online. When you create a Microsoft 365 group in this scenario, users can't access the group through Microsoft Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, or Outlook for Microsoft 365. However, users can access the group through Outlook on the web.

Cause

This issue occurs if the primary SMTP address of the Microsoft 365 group uses an incorrect format. For example: <Office365GroupName>@contoso.com.

Modern groups use an Autodiscover XML file that's located in the %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Outlook\16 folder. The primary SMTP address of the group should use the following format:

AutoD.<Office365GroupName>@contoso.mail.onmicrosoft.com

If the primary SMTP address of the group is <Office365GroupName>@contoso.com, the Autodiscover request fails because no object exists in the on-premises environment that represents the group.

Resolution

Change the primary SMTP address of the Microsoft 365 group. To do this, run the following Windows PowerShell command:

Set-UnifiedGroup Alias -PrimarySmtpAddress <Office365GroupName>@contoso.mail.onmicrosoft.com

More information

For more information, see Manage Microsoft 365 Groups with PowerShell.

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