The Packer Azure plugin has been updated to version 2.0.0, which provides a consistent foundation for managing Azure infrastructure by migrating from the deprecated Azure SDK. The new plugin addresses known deprecations with minimal disruption to users and introduces new features such as building Azure virtual hard disks, managed images, and Compute Gallery images. Users can now authenticate to Azure using an OIDC provider, allowing for more flexibility in their authentication setup. However, certificates encoded in .pem format are no longer recognized by the plugin, and VHD builds have been removed from the deprecation warning list. The plugin also includes changes to let it fail faster when creating image builds that won't succeed based on invalid shared image gallery version values. Users can report any issues or provide feedback through the Packer Azure plugin GitHub issue tracker.