How to Replace Default User Account Picture in Windows 10

By default, Windows 10 assigns a barebones user avatar for every user account with a grey background and the user represented by white curves. You can replace this boring image with any other image, so new accounts will have it applied by default. Here is how to change the default user picture to a custom image.

The user picture will be visible every time you sign in with your Windows 10 account. It is also visible in the Start menu as a tiny round thumbnail.

Instead of the default image, you can use your favorite wallpaper or your real photo. If your account is a Microsoft Account, the image you set will be uploaded to Microsoft's servers and used in all their cloud services like OneDrive, Office 365 and so on. By default, it will be synced across all your devices.

We have already covered how to change the user account picture in Windows 10 and how to restore the default image for your user account.

When it comes to customization of the default user avatar, the procedure is different.

To replace the default user account picture in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Open File Explorer and go to the following folder.

   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures

   

2. Change the file extension for the files user.png, user-32.png, user-40.png, user-48.png, and user-192.png from .PNG to .BAK.
3. Put new images in place of the renamed files. Find some neat user pictures, adjust their size and save them as user.png, user-32.png, user-40.png, user-48.png, and user-192.png, respectively. Then copy to the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures.
4. Restart Windows 10.

From now on, every time you create a new user account, it will use the customized user image.

For example, you can download the following icon:

You can adjust its size and use it as your new default avatar. Here is how it looks in my Windows 10. Or you can download the following ready-to-use files:

Download Files

To test the changes you have made, create a new user account. It should use the new image.

Note: The new image will be applied to ALL user accounts which use the default picture. For example, my user image was also replaced once I replaced the files. The customized user images will remain unchanged.

To restore the default image, remove your custom icons and rename the .BAK files back to .PNG. Then Restart Windows 10.

That's it.