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where is the account picture stored?

Several computers ago I created a picture for my account login.  I am now on Windows 7 and cannot find that picture.   It is obviously there, because it shows on the login screen and the start menu, but I cannot find it on my computer.  It is among the images displayed on the "change picture" screen, but it is not in the folder c:\programdata\...\user account pictures  

I would like to use it as my Skype photo.  Plus it just irritates me that something is on my computer that I cannot locate.

Can someone tell me how to find it?

I have searched my computer for .jpg, .bmp, .png, .gif.  I have searched my registry for all occurrences of my account name, the word photo, and the word picture.

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Probably contained in your Libraries\Pictures

windows\Users\username\Pictures

Contributor since 2006
Currently win11 Pro & O365 Bus, multiple devices

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Wish it were that easy.  That was the first place I looked.

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Well assuming you transferred this pic from a previous PC or version of win, only you would know where it was placed.

 

If you rt click the desktop, select Personalization>Change account picture, can you find it from there?

 

If searching for that pic name, or suffix you would need to search 'to include hidden' files/folders

Contributor since 2006
Currently win11 Pro & O365 Bus, multiple devices

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Obviously, I do not, and am unable to locate it.  Just as obviously, it is on my machine and my system does know what its name is and where it is. 

 

The question is, where can I locate that information?  Is it coded in the registry somehow?  Is there a dat file somewhere with that information>

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The bitmap is in:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp

The configuration information is stored in the registry SAM hive.

John


Programmers are either not taught about Occam's razor or they forgot about it the following day.

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Thank you.  Can you tell me how to retrieve it from there? 

 

I have looked through

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\System\SAM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\eventlog\System\SAM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\System\SAM

and the temp folder you referenced.  Unless the information is embedded in another file, I did not see it.

 

I wonder if there is some reason that this is hidden so well?

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Thank you.  Can you tell me how to retrieve it from there? 

 

I have looked through

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\System\SAM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\eventlog\System\SAM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\System\SAM

and the temp folder you referenced.  Unless the information is embedded in another file, I did not see it.

 

I wonder if there is some reason that this is hidden so well?

Those are not the SAM key, they are the Event Log service key telling the Event Log to log SAM events.  By the way, unless you have a special "mess" on your hands you should NEVER edit the numbered Control Sets, you should only ever edit the Current Control Set or else you may end up creating one of those "special mess".

The SAM and SECURITY keys are well hidden for a reason, compromise those keys and you compromise the security of the whole machine and you may very well end up locking yourself completely out of the machine or end up with an unbootable Windows installation.  You have to work under guise of the System account to edit those keys and many of the values under those keys are in binary or hex format which makes it difficult to edit unless you really understand the keys and the value formats.

If you want to find your logon tile just do a search for *.bmp on your computer and you will find the tile.  A standard Windows installation doesn't have that many bitmap image files, it will be easy to find your tile in your search results.

If you want to know where the settings are in the registry just take a registry snapshot then change your user tile and take a second registry snapshot then compare the before and after snapshots.  RegShot will be useful if you want to find the registry changes.  SysInternals' Process Monitor can also be used to log or monitor real-time registry activity but you should know that Process Monitor will put out A LOT of verbiage, Windows does a lot of "stuff" when its working, you have to filter what you want to monitor or sift through a lot of output from Process Monitor.

John

Programmers are either not taught about Occam's razor or they forgot about it the following day.

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http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/where-are-the-windows-login-pictures-stored

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C:\Users\<yourname>\AppData\Local\Packages\windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy\TempState

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in windows 10, try:

C:\Users\<accountName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures

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Last updated May 14, 2024 Views 66,478 Applies to: