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Microsoft continues to support its HoloLens 2 mixed reality device with new software updates despite discontinuing its Windows Mixed Reality platform. Today, the company revealed that the latest version of its Windows Holographic software, version 24H1, is now available.
In a blog post, Microsoft goes over the new features and improvements for Windows Holographic 24H1. Perhaps the biggest feature is to allow people who have to use the same HoloLens 2 device to create a shared account for the product.
Microsoft stated:
After deployment of the Shared Microsoft Entra ID account, users will need only to click a single sign-in button to login to the device. The shared account enables workers to start their tasks quickly.
Another new feature that"s being added is a way to find out information about the device"s network connectivity. This is being added to the Offline Diagnostics feature so that any issues with network connections can be found and fixed. Microsoft says:
After user triggers Offline Diagnostics, device IP addresses, Wi-Fi information, proxy settings and device’s connectivity to known cloud service endpoints are collected.
There have also been some improvements for eye tracking calibrations with this update. The blog post stated:
The option to perform eye tracking calibration is shown on the device even if it has been deployed via Autopilot. Customers still have the option to disable this behavior via the existing policy. Any user on the device can still choose to run eye calibration at any time to improve their experience
This new update comes after Microsoft decided in August 2023 that it would spin off the development of its Mixed Reality Toolkit over to a separate organization. That group now includes Qualcomm and Magic Leap, in addition to Microsoft. At the time, the company said this move would allow the toolkit to become "free of previous constraints that made it difficult for developers to introduce other endpoints and influence feature roadmaps."