Allow More ActiveSync Devices

With the release of Windows 8 and surface tablets, I'm starting to see complaints about the 10 device limit for Exchange accounts. Users are trying to connect the Mail client to Exchange server but receive an error message instead.

Hotmail / Outlook.com users who receive an error stating you are syncing too many devices should see Too many devices when accessing Hotmail with Outlook 2013.

After adding Windows 8 desktop and laptop computers, I realized that the Mail app in Windows 8 uses ActiveSync only and I've run out of allowable ActiveSync connections making it impossible to actually use the Mail or Calendar apps in Windows 8 unless I disable email on my Android devices. Microsoft needs to remove its 10 ActiveSync connection limit for Exchange Servers.

Users can delete devices no longer being uses by logging into OWA and going to Options, Phone, Mobile Phones, where they can delete any unused partnerships. This is recommended before increasing the number of devices allowed to connect.

The limit is a default Throttling policy setting and can easily be increased by the Exchange administrator. Exchange 2010 SP1 has a default limit of 10 mobile devices each user can connect to their Exchange mailbox.

The Throttling Policy allows administrators to limit the amount of resources each user can use to avoid possible performance issues. The policy can control 6 EAS parameters but only 2 of the policies, EASMaxDevices and EASMaxConcurrency are set by default.

To change the policy for all users, the administrator would use this cmdlet:

Set-ThrottlingPolicy <policy_name< –EASMaxDevices 15

The administrator can increase the limit for specific users by creating a new policy and applying it to those users or groups

New-ThrottlingPolicy "More EAS Devices" -EASMaxDevices 15
Set-Mailbox alias -ThrottlingPolicy "More EAS Devices"