Change User Profile Picture Path in Regedit

This guide explains how to directly change the Windows user profile image path using the Registry Editor (Regedit). By locating your specific User Security Identifier (SID) and modifying the corresponding image registry strings under the Windows Account Picture registry keys, you can manually reassign the source image files used for your Windows user avatar.

Step 1: Find Your User SID

Windows stores account pictures in the registry based on your account’s unique Security Identifier (SID).

  1. Press Win + X and select Terminal, PowerShell, or Command Prompt.

  2. Type the following command and press Enter:

    whoami /user

  3. Copy the string of characters listed under the SID column (e.g., S-1-5-21-...).

Step 2: Open the Registry Editor

  1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter.
  3. If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes.

Step 3: Navigate to the Account Picture Registry Key

In the Registry Editor address bar, paste the following path and press Enter:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AccountPicture\Users

Expand the Users key to find the subkey that matches the SID you obtained in Step 1. Click on your SID key to display its values in the right pane.

Step 4: Update the Image Paths

Inside your SID folder, you will see multiple string values corresponding to different image dimensions: * Image32 * Image40 * Image48 * Image96 * Image192 * Image240 * Image448 * Image1080 (if present)

To change the image: 1. Double-click each Image value you want to modify. 2. In the Value data field, replace the existing file path with the full absolute path of your new image file (e.g., C:\CustomImages\avatar.png). 3. Click OK. 4. Repeat this process for all resolution entries to ensure the image appears correctly across the entire operating system interface.

Step 5: Apply the Changes

  1. Close the Registry Editor.
  2. Sign out of your Windows account and sign back in, or restart your computer for the new profile picture path to take effect.