Unlike Windows 7, Windows 8's settings to change the User Account Picture aren't very usable. They are located inside the PC Settings app and browsing to the picture you want is very annoying because the Metro File Picker UI isn't at all intuitive. Let us see how to change the user account picture in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 quickly.
- If you are using a Microsoft Account, the user account picture can be changed by going to https://profile.live.com. Sign in and click the Change Picture link.
- Account pictures are stored in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 at C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures. You can directly copy-paste your favorite picture in this folder to avoid browsing through the Metro file picker UI.
- If you are using a local user account, open PC Settings.
- On Windows 8.0, go to "Personalize" section in PC Settings, then click 'Account Picture', click Browse and set the picture.
- On Windows 8.1, click "Accounts" in PC Settings -> Account picture -> Browse
Tip: In Windows 8.1, you can create a shortcut to open user account picture settings directly.
- You can also take a selfie by clicking Camera below 'Create an account picture'
If you want to remove previously used user account pictures, then see this article.
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Can you show me how to get the default account pictures for XP through 7.
The account pictures for Vista/7 are located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures. The ones for XP are at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures.
I find it rather counter-intuitive how difficult Microsoft made it to change something as simple as an account picture. You never had to log into each individual account to do this before; one admin account was always plenty. Now you need to bounce through every single account and it’s so much more time consuming.