diff --git a/src/cli/backup/backup.go b/src/cli/backup/backup.go
index 0a8b45dc3..31b1b7451 100644
--- a/src/cli/backup/backup.go
+++ b/src/cli/backup/backup.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	. "github.com/alcionai/corso/src/cli/print"
 	"github.com/alcionai/corso/src/cli/utils"
 	"github.com/alcionai/corso/src/internal/common/idname"
+	"github.com/alcionai/corso/src/internal/connector/graph"
 	"github.com/alcionai/corso/src/internal/data"
 	"github.com/alcionai/corso/src/pkg/backup"
 	"github.com/alcionai/corso/src/pkg/logger"
@@ -225,6 +226,13 @@ func runBackups(
 
 		err = bo.Run(ictx)
 		if err != nil {
+			if errors.Is(err, graph.ErrServiceNotEnabled) {
+				logger.Ctx(ctx).Debugf("Service not enabled for creating backup for %s", bo.ResourceOwner.Name())
+				Infof(ictx, "%v\n", err)
+
+				continue
+			}
+
 			errs = append(errs, clues.Wrap(err, owner).WithClues(ictx))
 			Errf(ictx, "%v\n", err)
 
diff --git a/src/cli/backup/exchange_e2e_test.go b/src/cli/backup/exchange_e2e_test.go
index e5c60df2b..80b10d5a5 100644
--- a/src/cli/backup/exchange_e2e_test.go
+++ b/src/cli/backup/exchange_e2e_test.go
@@ -173,6 +173,39 @@ func runExchangeBackupCategoryTest(suite *BackupExchangeE2ESuite, category strin
 	assert.Contains(t, result, suite.m365UserID)
 }
 
+func (suite *BackupExchangeE2ESuite) TestExchangeBackupCmd_ServiceNotEnabled_email() {
+	runExchangeBackupServiceNotEnabledTest(suite, "email")
+}
+
+func runExchangeBackupServiceNotEnabledTest(suite *BackupExchangeE2ESuite, category string) {
+	recorder := strings.Builder{}
+	recorder.Reset()
+
+	t := suite.T()
+
+	ctx, flush := tester.NewContext()
+	ctx = config.SetViper(ctx, suite.vpr)
+
+	defer flush()
+
+	// run the command
+
+	cmd, ctx := buildExchangeBackupCmd(
+		ctx,
+		suite.cfgFP,
+		fmt.Sprintf("%s,%s", tester.UnlicensedM365UserID(suite.T()), suite.m365UserID),
+		category,
+		&recorder)
+	err := cmd.ExecuteContext(ctx)
+	require.NoError(t, err, clues.ToCore(err))
+
+	result := recorder.String()
+	t.Log("backup results", result)
+
+	// as an offhand check: the result should contain the m365 user id
+	assert.Contains(t, result, suite.m365UserID)
+}
+
 func (suite *BackupExchangeE2ESuite) TestExchangeBackupCmd_userNotFound_email() {
 	runExchangeBackupUserNotFoundTest(suite, "email")
 }
diff --git a/src/internal/tester/config.go b/src/internal/tester/config.go
index 14a4f54d9..657631960 100644
--- a/src/internal/tester/config.go
+++ b/src/internal/tester/config.go
@@ -31,18 +31,20 @@ const (
 	TestCfgLoadTestUserID   = "loadtestm365userid"
 	TestCfgLoadTestOrgUsers = "loadtestm365orgusers"
 	TestCfgAccountProvider  = "account_provider"
+	TestCfgUnlicensedUserID = "unlicensedm365userid"
 )
 
 // test specific env vars
 const (
-	EnvCorsoM365TestSiteID          = "CORSO_M365_TEST_SITE_ID"
-	EnvCorsoM365TestSiteURL         = "CORSO_M365_TEST_SITE_URL"
-	EnvCorsoM365TestUserID          = "CORSO_M365_TEST_USER_ID"
-	EnvCorsoSecondaryM365TestUserID = "CORSO_SECONDARY_M365_TEST_USER_ID"
-	EnvCorsoTertiaryM365TestUserID  = "CORSO_TERTIARY_M365_TEST_USER_ID"
-	EnvCorsoM365LoadTestUserID      = "CORSO_M365_LOAD_TEST_USER_ID"
-	EnvCorsoM365LoadTestOrgUsers    = "CORSO_M365_LOAD_TEST_ORG_USERS"
-	EnvCorsoTestConfigFilePath      = "CORSO_TEST_CONFIG_FILE"
+	EnvCorsoM365TestSiteID           = "CORSO_M365_TEST_SITE_ID"
+	EnvCorsoM365TestSiteURL          = "CORSO_M365_TEST_SITE_URL"
+	EnvCorsoM365TestUserID           = "CORSO_M365_TEST_USER_ID"
+	EnvCorsoSecondaryM365TestUserID  = "CORSO_SECONDARY_M365_TEST_USER_ID"
+	EnvCorsoTertiaryM365TestUserID   = "CORSO_TERTIARY_M365_TEST_USER_ID"
+	EnvCorsoM365LoadTestUserID       = "CORSO_M365_LOAD_TEST_USER_ID"
+	EnvCorsoM365LoadTestOrgUsers     = "CORSO_M365_LOAD_TEST_ORG_USERS"
+	EnvCorsoTestConfigFilePath       = "CORSO_TEST_CONFIG_FILE"
+	EnvCorsoUnlicensedM365TestUserID = "CORSO_M365_TEST_UNLICENSED_USER"
 )
 
 // global to hold the test config results.
@@ -152,6 +154,12 @@ func readTestConfig() (map[string]string, error) {
 		os.Getenv(EnvCorsoM365TestSiteURL),
 		vpr.GetString(TestCfgSiteURL),
 		"https://10rqc2.sharepoint.com/sites/CorsoCI")
+	fallbackTo(
+		testEnv,
+		TestCfgUnlicensedUserID,
+		os.Getenv(EnvCorsoUnlicensedM365TestUserID),
+		vpr.GetString(TestCfgUnlicensedUserID),
+		"testevents@10rqc2.onmicrosoft.com")
 
 	testEnv[EnvCorsoTestConfigFilePath] = os.Getenv(EnvCorsoTestConfigFilePath)
 	testConfig = testEnv
diff --git a/src/internal/tester/resource_owners.go b/src/internal/tester/resource_owners.go
index fb8a75837..63f929b50 100644
--- a/src/internal/tester/resource_owners.go
+++ b/src/internal/tester/resource_owners.go
@@ -197,3 +197,15 @@ func GetM365SiteID(ctx context.Context) string {
 
 	return strings.ToLower(cfg[TestCfgSiteID])
 }
+
+// UnlicensedM365UserID returns an userID string representing the m365UserID
+// described by either the env var CORSO_M365_TEST_UNLICENSED_USER, the
+// corso_test.toml config file or the default value (in that order of priority).
+// The default is a last-attempt fallback that will only work on alcion's
+// testing org.
+func UnlicensedM365UserID(t *testing.T) string {
+	cfg, err := readTestConfig()
+	require.NoError(t, err, "retrieving unlicensed m365 user id from test configuration", clues.ToCore(err))
+
+	return strings.ToLower(cfg[TestCfgSecondaryUserID])
+}