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How do I change the icons for the different users as displayed when I first power up XP?

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Short clarification: is correct that the built‑in User Accounts applet is how XP assigns the picture shown on the Welcome (startup) screen and on the Start menu — that is the supported way to change those icons. (vdoc.pub)

A few useful details that go beyond the quick tip in the thread: XP accepts BMP, GIF, JPEG and PNG images for account pictures, but it always displays them at 48×48 pixels (non‑square images will be stretched or compressed to fit). When a custom picture is chosen Windows stores a resized copy for the account. (vdoc.pub)

To add your own pictures to the gallery so they appear in the Change Picture list, put square images (48×48 recommended) into the Default Pictures folder under the All Users application‑data path — e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures — and unhide that folder if needed. Many XP guides recommend saving the image as a 48×48 BMP to get the best, non‑blurred result. (jakeludington.com)

Troubleshooting notes tied to common forum symptoms: if the picture choices are missing or a red X appears, restore the default images from the XP CD or copy them from another XP machine into the Default Pictures folder; if the Change Picture dialog crashes or closes immediately, check whether Picture and Fax Viewer was disabled (re‑register shimgvw.dll if it was). Also remember the Start‑menu avatar only appears with the XP visual style / Welcome screen (it won’t show under the Classic Start menu), and machines joined to a domain may not show/change local account pictures the same way. (pcreview.co.uk)

Summary: ’s question was answered in principle by ; the extra points above (accepted formats, 48×48 display size, Default Pictures folder, and the troubleshooting checks) fill in the practical details needed when the gallery is empty or an image doesn’t appear correctly. (vdoc.pub)

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Member Avatar for caperjack

How do I change the icons for the different users as displayed when I first power up XP?

Go to ,Start/control panel / users ,.click on a user name ,and click on change picture .and select one from the list or you can navagte to your mypictures folder[ or any other folder on you computer with picturs .] and use one from there .I think it only uses .JPEG ,or .GIF not sure on that .

Member Avatar for Thong_Ispector

Great Thanks.....

Member Avatar for caperjack

your welcome

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