Deprecation of EWS access

[f.neumann]

Microsoft just announced, that EWS access will be removed - at least for some license types - from march 2026.
Will this affect Veeam 365 Backup, so we might need different Licensing due to these changes? Or does Veeam not require ews access to mailboxes?

See https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blo ... rs/4474299 and Admin Center Message MC1191578

[DaStivi]

has been discussed allready... (more or less) turns out it's all connected..
veeam-backup-for-microsoft-365-f47/ms-d ... 77547.html

there was speaking of 10/2026...
maybe this was a a foreshadowing of it.. and they returned the settings and releases some sheduled change now:
veeam-backup-for-microsoft-365-f47/mail ... 01068.html

https://www.veeam.com/kb4796

as I've suspected, the write it there, "they never enforced" ews block for Kiosk/F1/F3 ...

[Mike Resseler]

@f.neumann @DaStivi

Unfortunately, this will come back. There should have been a message in M365 message center yesterday (MC1191578) that describes it. I'm afraid that this will become a permanent issue for those Frontline/Kiosk licenses. We are still doing some investigation for an alternative (and having discussions on the topic) but I wouldn't get my hopes up. It seems this will be permanently. Speaking of which, we are moving everything to GRAPH API because EWS will be blocked in beginning of Q4 - 26. So there is also that...

[track1044]

@Mike
I do not understand Veeam's position on this. If EWS is being blocked early for these types of licenses, why are you not focusing on expediting the Graph API integration for these specific licenses, instead of saying "dont get your hopes up" and then point out the carrot of Graph API in Q4 2026.

[Gostev]

@track1044 what makes you think we are "not focusing on expediting"?

[track1044]

This sentence "We are still doing some investigation for an alternative (and having discussions on the topic) but I wouldn't get my hopes up." along with comments from your support, and Polina on these forums.

[Gostev]

You're taking this comment completely out of context. He explains that they are looking for an immediate workaround for Frontline/Kiosk licenses but there's not much hope there would be one.

This effort is completely perpendicular to the unavoidable migration to Graph API in preparation to EWS shutdown one year from now. Migration to Graph API has been the priority already even back when I was still responsible for M365 backup product. The team has been diligently working with Microsoft all this time to help them close Graph API gaps to make the migration from EWS possible in principle and with minimal feature loss.

[track1044]

I think we've might have written past each other, I'm not asking about finding workarounds to keep EWS functioning for these licenses or saying Graph API overall is not a focus.
My question is: Could Veeam possibly release Graph API support specifically for Frontline/Kiosk licenses by March 2026, ahead of the full platform migration in Q4 2026?

[Gostev]

I'm afraid you're just not reading carefully what Mike said above. He never said the full platform migration will happen in Q4 2026. He said that Microsoft will disable EWS in early Q4. The "full platform migration" to Graph API will of course need to happen before EWS is disabled.

Now, as it comes to "Graph API support specifically for Frontline/Kiosk", it seems you're assuming that Microsoft will enable Graph API access for these M365 license types, however this has not been confirmed by Microsoft yet.

[oologeanu]

Sorry to hijack this post, but what is the current workaround for the Teams chat 1:1? We luckily have Smarsh, but wanted to know if we can still leverage the Paid APIs through VBO 365. For some reason, I could not find any guides that helped me set that access up. I think i found 3 separate articles in Veeam all pointing in different directions and haven't found one thing that was solid for this.

[Polina]

Hi Oni,

The APIs that used to be paid are now free of charge (since August 2025) and teams channel messages are now protected at no cost. Still, 1:1 teams chats currently are not supported by VB365 and there's no workaround.