What you need to know
- The 20H2 update is now available for the HoloLens 2.
- The update adds auto eye position support and several other new features.
- The update also addresses several issues and bugs.
The HoloLens 2 has a new update that brings the device to version 20H2. The update includes several new features, including auto eye positioning, new options for IT professionals, and more. The update also addresses issues and includes several fixes.
One of the most noteworthy features of the update is auto eye positioning. Usually, the HoloLens 2 requires people to go through eye tracking calibration. With auto eye positioning, the headset can work in the background to figure out a person's eye positions. Here's Microsoft's description of the feature from an updated support doc:
Auto Eye Position (AEP) enables these scenarios with an interaction-free way to compute eye positions for the user. Auto Eye Position starts working in the background automatically from the moment the user puts the device on. If the user does not have a prior eye tracking calibration, Auto Eye position will start providing the user's eye positions to the display system after a small processing time. This processing time typically is between 20 - 60 seconds. The user data is not persisted on the device and hence this process is repeated if the user takes off and puts the device back on or if the device reboots or wakes up from sleep.
Here are the highlights from that same support doc:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto Eye Position | Support Actively computes eye positions without users going through active calibration. |
| Certificate Manager | Allows new simpler methods to install and remove certificates from the Settings app. |
| Auto-launch provisioning from USB | Provisioning packages on USB drives automatically prompt the provisioning page in OOBE. |
| Auto-confirm provisioning packages in OOBE | Provisioning packages are automatically applied during OOBE from the provisioning page. |
| Automatic provisioning without using UI | How to combine the provisioning auto-launch and auto-confirm together. |
| Using Autopilot with Wi-Fi connection | Use autopilot from device Wi-Fi without need for ethernet adapter. |
| Tenantlockdown CSP and Autopilot | After tenant enrollment and the policy is applied, the device can only be enrolled in that tenant any time the device is reset or re-flashed. |
| Global Assigned Access | New configuration method for multiple app kiosk mode which applies the kiosk at the system level, making it applicable to all. |
| Auto-launch an app in multi-app kiosk | Sets an application to launch automatically when signing into a multiple-app kiosk mode. |
| Kiosk mode behavior changes for handling of failures | Kiosk mode failure now has restrictive fallback. |
| HoloLens Policies | New policies for HoloLens. |
| Cache AAD Group membership for offline Kiosk | New policy allows users to uses group membership cache to use Kiosk mode offline for set number of days. |
| New device restriction policies for HoloLens 2 | Device management policies enabled newly enabled for HoloLens 2. |
| New power policies for HoloLens 2 | Newly supported policies for power timeout settings. |
| Update Policies | Newly enabled policies allowing control of updates. |
| Enabled Settings page visibility for HoloLens 2 | Policy to pick which pages are seen in Settings app. |
| Research mode | Using Research mode on HoloLens 2. |
| Recording length increased | MRC recordings no longer capped to 5 minutes. |
| Improvements and fixes in the update | Additional fixes in the update. |
Following the update, the HoloLens 2 can work with Autopilot with a Wi-Fi connection. Previously, the headset required a wired connection through Ethernet for this feature.
The support doc has extended sections for each highlighted point, including how-to guides and detailed explanations.
HoloLens, but better
HoloLens 2 takes everything that made the original great and turns it up to 11. With a new carbon-fiber body, extra padding, eye tracking, and a wider field of view, the headset should have no problem finding success among developers and firstline workers.
