Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune

Platforms: Windows
Products: IntuneHoloLens 2Company Portal
Result: The emulated HoloLens 2 is Microsoft Entra registered, enrolled in Intune as a personal device, compliant and receiving profiles

Overview

Test HoloLens 2 management without the hardware: run the HoloLens 2 Emulator on Hyper-V and enroll it in Intune as a personal device.

I've recently started testing Microsoft HoloLens with endpoint management tools like Microsoft Intune. See also my earlier post about HoloLens (1st gen).

HoloLens hardware is expensive for one person, but the HoloLens Emulator lets you try holographic apps on your own computer without a device. It's made for app developers, but it's just as useful for someone working with device management (MDM/UEM). The emulator is a Hyper-V virtual machine that emulates mixed reality. It feels like a 3D video game, so an Xbox controller helps, but mouse and keyboard work too (see Basic emulator input).

The emulator is for testing only, not production, but it gives you a first feel for Windows Holographic, the OS on every HoloLens, without buying the hardware.

What works in the emulator is the personal (BYOD) scenario: the user enrolls the HoloLens 2 in Intune with the Company Portal app, and the device becomes Microsoft Entra registered. Automatic MDM enrollment (Microsoft Entra ID P1) makes onboarding simpler; without it, the user enrolls in MDM manually.

Prerequisites

Before you start, check that you have the following.

What you need

checked 10/2026

Area	What you need	Docs
Licence	Microsoft Intune Plan 1 for the test user	Licensing
Licence	Microsoft Entra ID P1 for automatic MDM enrollment optional	Auto-enrollment
Admin role	Global Administrator in Microsoft Entra ID to set the MDM user scope optional	Auto-enrollment
Intune	Windows BYOD enrollment allowed (Company Portal or work account)	BYOD HoloLens MDM
Devices	A PC on Windows 10 or 11 Pro, Enterprise or Education with Hyper-V, 8 GB RAM or more and a GPU that supports WDDM 2.5	Requirements
Microsoft	Visual Studio with the mixed reality workloads	Install tools
Microsoft	The HoloLens 2 Emulator (latest: 24H1, October 2024); it also installs the holographic project templates	Download Archive

Configuration

Start the emulator from a Visual Studio project, then open Device Portal to make typing easier.

Start the emulator from Visual Studio

With Visual Studio and the emulator installed, create a new project under File > New > Project:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 1

Select C++ > Windows > UWP (Universal Windows Platform). Several templates can run the HoloLens Emulator, for example DirectX 12 App (Universal Windows):

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 2

Accept the default target and minimum versions, or change them:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 3

Visual Studio builds the app from the template, so you don't write any code. Set the configuration to Release and x64, and select the installed HoloLens Emulator (not the simulator):

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 4

Select the green arrow to start the emulator (Hyper-V must be turned on). Windows Holographic starts, and the black area is where the room would be:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 5

Practice the controls before you enroll, because they take some getting used to. I prefer an Xbox controller over mouse and keyboard, see Basic emulator input.

Open Windows Device Portal

Windows Device Portal is a web server on the HoloLens that you open in a browser. In the emulator, open it from the toolbar (Open Device Portal):

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 6

Device Portal has many management features. I use Virtual Input (virtual keyboard) all the time, for example to search the Microsoft Store for Company Portal or to type the user's Microsoft Entra ID credentials:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 7

User Experience

Finally, enroll the emulated HoloLens 2 with Company Portal and check it in Intune.

Now the user enrolls the device in Intune with the Company Portal app, just like on other Windows editions (see Enroll Windows devices in Intune). Open the Microsoft Store:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 8

Type with Virtual Input and search for Company Portal:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 9

Get the Company Portal app:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 10

When it's installed, launch the app:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 11

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 12

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 13

Keep Allow my organization to manage my device selected (the default) and select OK to finish enrollment:

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 14

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 15

Select Done, and Company Portal shows the company apps. I didn't have many HoloLens apps there, but Dynamics 365 Remote Assist was worth trying: video calls and screen sharing with Teams, almost like Teams for Windows Holographic.

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 16

Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 Emulator with Intune - screenshot 17

Update (October 2026): Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Dynamics 365 Guides reach end of support on December 31, 2026, so don't plan new deployments with them.

Back on the device, it syncs with Intune: