Change Account Picture in Windows 10

sportsfan148 · 16 Jul 2020

Brink said:

Hey mate,

I'm seeing the same thing as well. I've updated the notes at the top to strike though that bit.

Hi mate. Thanks for checking what you see on your system and verifying for me that you see an empty folder after entering that command too. Its the first time Ive ever bothered to enter my photo under Account settings on my PC so I thought Id better check here with you that Id done it correctly after looking through your tutorials.
Since adding my photo to my Account a couple of hours ago one thing seems to have changed. I rebooted to verify that my photo was showing correctly on the sign in screen and it was. However, when signing in now the lock screen, shown before the sign in screen shows the Preview background picture (mountains and lake). I have always had the default setting of Windows Spotlight for the lock screen and Ive never made any changes to it since clean installing last weekend. Previously the lock screen picture has been automatically changing every day after booting up my PC as expected. Can I expect Windows Spotlight will start working again in the coming days without any input from me?

Brink · 16 Jul 2020

sportsfan148 said:

Since adding my photo to my Account a couple of hours ago one thing seems to have changed. I rebooted to verify that my photo was showing correctly on the sign in screen and it was. However, when signing in now the lock screen, shown before the sign in screen shows the Preview background picture (mountains and lake). I have always had the default setting of Windows Spotlight for the lock screen and Ive never made any changes to it since clean installing last weekend. Previously the lock screen picture has been automatically changing every day after booting up my PC as expected. Can I expect Windows Spotlight will start working again in the coming days without any input from me?

If Windows Spotlight doesn't start working on its own within a day or so, you could reset it using the method in the tutorial below.

Reset and Re-register Windows Spotlight in Windows 10

sportsfan148 · 17 Jul 2020

Brink said:

If Windows Spotlight doesn't start working on its own within a day or so, you could reset it using the method in the tutorial below.

Reset and Re-register Windows Spotlight in Windows 10

Thanks again mate for the info. I'll see if it comes back then over the weekend

Brink · 17 Jul 2020

sportsfan148 said:

Thanks again mate for the info. I'll see if it comes back then over the weekend

You're most welcome.

Matthew Wai · 14 Feb 2021

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures

I found that the pictures there can be backed up and renamed.
Just double-click on a backup picture, and the account picture will be changed.

Change Account Picture in Windows 10-accountpicture-ms-file.jpg

Change Account Picture in Windows 10-screenshot-21-.png

Paul Black · 29 Apr 2021

Hello @Brink

,

Just a small point.

Just above Contents, you have -> %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures.
It should be -> %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Account Pictures.

Brink · 29 Apr 2021

Paul Black said:

Hello @Brink

,

Just a small point.

Just above Contents, you have -> %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures.
It should be -> %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Account Pictures.

No worries. Both versions of the path will take you to the same folder.

You get the path below when using "Copy as Path".

"C:\Users\Brink\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures"

Paul Black · 29 Apr 2021

Brink said:

No worries. Both versions of the path will take you to the same folder.

You get the path below when using "Copy as Path".

"C:\Users\Brink\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures"

Thanks for the explanation.

lekendary · 15 May 2021

thornburgh said:

I have the same error posted above when I try to change my account picture on one computer. ("Account picture error/Setting the account picture failed. Please try again.")

I have been able to change the default pictures in %ProgramData%\Microsoft\User Account Pictures to one I want, but I don't like all users having my pic.

I figured I could change just my account pic by directly editing it somewhere. However, C:\Users\Public\Public Account Pictures\S-1-5-21.......(GUID for user account) is empty. I thought I could therefore fill it with something from a computer with a working account pic, but it turns out my working computer just has a GUID, but no pic. I think this means that my actual profile pic must be stored somewhere else, not there. Any idea where? Reading this thread, I also looked at C:\Users\{your name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures. That folder has my desired pic in it, but it's not used.

I tried creating an empty folder with my GUID in C:\Users\Public\Public Account Pictures\ but that didn't help either.

Any more ideas? Thanks!

This helped me solve the same problem, I tried almost everything except reset or reinstall Windows 10. The photos were inside the GUID folder they were system files so they were hidden, the "Hide protected operating system files" options in the folder options should be unchecked to be able to see them. When you are able to see them just make corresponding sizes of the images inside the folder and rename them using the names inside the folder with the correct sizes. After restarting my PC all the account photos were changed. This is just a work around, not really a solution to the problem. Hope it helps.