5 Useful Scripts with Get-MgGroupMember in PowerShell

Knowing who belongs to a Microsoft 365 group is a daily admin need. Whether you’re auditing access, troubleshooting membership issues, or preparing reports, the Get-MgGroupMember cmdlet in Microsoft Graph PowerShell gives you a fast way to retrieve and analyze group members.

In this article, you’ll learn 5 simple and practical scripts that show different ways to work with Get-MgGroupMember. Each example is beginner-friendly and useful in real admin scenarios.

Prerequisites

Before using these scripts, install and connect Microsoft Graph PowerShell with the right permissions:

Install-Module Microsoft.Graph -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Group.Read.All","User.Read.All"
                                        

You’ll also need the GroupId of the group you want to query. You can find one using:

Get-MgGroup -Filter "displayName eq 'Group Name'"

• Script 1: Get Members of a Group

Retrieve all members of a specified group.

Get-MgGroupMember -GroupId "<GroupId>"

Explanation:

This is the most basic way to list members. It returns every object inside the group — usually users, but sometimes devices or service principals too. Great for quickly verifying membership.

• Script 2: Search Members of a Group

Search for group members using a specific search string.

Get-MgGroupMember -GroupId "<GroupId>" -Search "displayName:John" -ConsistencyLevel eventual

Explanation:

This script searches within the group’s members.

• -Search "displayName:John" filters members whose display name matches “John”.
• -ConsistencyLevel eventual is required when using search in Graph PowerShell.

Useful when you want to confirm whether a specific person is part of a group.

• Script 3: Select N Members from group

Retrieve the top N members of the group.

Get-MgGroupMember -GroupId "<GroupId>" -Top 10

Explanation:

This retrieves only the first 10 members. It’s handy when testing scripts or when you don’t need the full membership list (especially for large groups).

• Script 4: Sort Group Members and List Them

Sort the group members based on a specific property.

Get-MgGroupMember -GroupId "<GroupId>" -Sort "displayName asc" -ConsistencyLevel eventual -CountVariable groupCount

Explanation:

This script returns members sorted alphabetically by displayName.

• -Sort "displayName asc" sorts in ascending order.
• -CountVariable groupCount stores the member count in a variable, which is useful if you want to display or export it later.
• -ConsistencyLevel eventual is required because sorting uses advanced query features.

Great for generating clean admin reports.

• Script 5: Select Group Member User Properties

Retrieve the group members and then fetch their displayName and userPrincipalName with the help of Get-MgUser cmdlet:

# Retrieve members of a specified group
$groupMembers = Get-MgGroupMember -GroupId "1cbe8c31-589d-453a-a1e5-045f7f00c967"
# Initialize an array to store detailed user information
$userDetails = @()
# Loop through each group member and retrieve additional properties
foreach ($member in $groupMembers) {
    $user = Get-MgUser -UserId $member.Id -Property "id, displayName, userPrincipalName"
    $userDetails += [PSCustomObject]@{
        Id                 = $user.Id
        DisplayName        = $user.DisplayName
        UserPrincipalName  = $user.UserPrincipalName
    }
}
# Display the detailed user information
$userDetails | Select-Object Id, DisplayName, UserPrincipalName
                                            

Explanation:

Get-MgGroupMember usually returns only limited information.

This script:

1. Retrieves all members of the group.
2. Loops through each member.
3. Uses Get-MgUser to collect friendly properties like DisplayName and UPN.
4. Outputs a clean, readable list.

This is one of the most useful real-world reporting patterns for admins.

Cmdlet Tips

• Get-MgGroupMember may return users, devices, or apps — not only people.
• Use -Top when testing scripts on large groups.
• For -Search or -Sort, always include:
• -ConsistencyLevel eventual
• If you need more user details, combine with Get-MgUser like Example 5.
• Exporting results is easy once you have the list:

$userDetails | Export-Csv C:\Reports\GroupMembers.csv -NoTypeInformation

Possible Errors and Solutions

Error	Cause	Solution
Insufficient privileges to complete the operation	Missing Graph scopes	Reconnect with "Group.Read.All","User.Read.All"
Request_UnsupportedQuery	Search/sort without consistency level	Add -ConsistencyLevel eventual
Group not found	Incorrect GroupId	Verify using Get-MgGroup
Cannot index into a null array	Empty group	Check if group has members or handle null safely

Conclusion

The Get-MgGroupMember cmdlet is a must-know tool for Microsoft 365 administrators. Whether you're listing members, searching within them, sorting results, limiting output for testing, or building detailed reports — these five scripts cover the most practical day-to-day use cases.

Once you're comfortable with these patterns, you can easily extend them into automated audits, compliance checks, or scheduled membership reports.