Remove user picture from start menu

[ilesal]

Hello All,

This is my first post, I do hope someone may be able to help assist me..

I simple wish to remove the user picture, not change it, remove it completely. I did it on Vista but the same does not work on Win7.

Just to clarify, click on orb. Top right you see user picture. Go to Music, Computer etc and the image changes. I want to remove the image.

I have Aves style builder which I used with Vista but does not seem to work well with Win7.

 

[AGlobalThreatsK]

I'd like to do this too if it's possible

 

[ilesal]

Ok I have finally found a way to achieve this. First you will need win7 style builder. (Previously vista style builder.) Ave's Vista Style Builder

Choose to modify existing style and choose your current theme/ style.
Click the drop down in the search box, (top right,) and set it to properties. Search for USERPICTURE:BOOL. Set it to false (untick it) Click on the test style and then when you go to exit it asks if you want to use current style click yes.

 

[ilesal]

 

[AGlobalThreatsK]

Looks great, $22.50 for the program though

 

[ilesal]

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/2002-custom-theme-thread-22.html

You can download my theme by first going here, once you have it you can then modify the sound, wallpaper etc to your own.

 

[01101011]

That picture

Hi.

Yes i hate that user picture standing there in that big frame

so could u help me out ?

At the time i dont have 22$

so if i send u my current windows 7theme file

will u take that picture offfff ?

Thanks

 

[ilesal]

I can try, give me a link.

 

[01101011]

Picture

o nice


here u go - THE.theme - FileFactory

 

[null]

Wow nice forum, ended up here with a google query.

ilesal, do you still help people with removing there user account pictures? If so, could you do one for me on the default aero style from Windows 7?

 

[evo1087]

Dead link. Can you send me that clean theme or reup the link to deviant art

 

[ShopBunny]

To remove the user pic from start menu, I can give you three methods.
2 of them involve VSB :

Method 1 :

Open Vista Style Builder and load your aero.msstyles.
In the search box, type "USERPICTURE:BOOL"
uncheck the two boxes it finds
Click "test"
Close Vista Style Builder, and save to a new file, say aero2.msstyles.
Make sure you save in c:\windows\resources\themes\aero\
Choose "use this visual style" when it closes.
Goto personalization, and save your theme.
From now on, that saved theme will have the userpicture disabled.


Method 2 :

download this stylehack for VSB, made by PandaX :

Win7 - Disable User Picture by ~stylehacks on deviantART


Method 3 :

download this little app : 2shared - download NoUserPicture.rar

Place the .exe wherever you want, then run it once to set it as an autostart
item for Windows. The user picture will vanish from existence.

It will only re-appear if you change the Theme or if you reposition the
taskbar around your desktop, but then again you can manually run the .exe
once more.

Works for Windows 7, x86 and x64.

 

[stereo]

Is there any simple trick to remove the user picture from the start menu ?

 

[JeremyWW]

Is there any simple trick to remove the user picture from the start menu ?

Yes, I'll give you a simple method involving no software or anything hard whatsoever.

1. Go here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
2. Rename user.bmp and guest.bmp to user.ren and guest.ren respectively. (The suffix actually doesn't matter - I just chose ren (stands for 'renamed')
3. Reboot

Job done. The picture will also not re-appear if you move the taskbar to a different location. I really cannot understand why there are are a host of over complicated 'solutions' to this when it's simple and takes 30 seconds. Let me know if it's worked for you.

 

[JohnS]

First, thank you, JeremyWW. This does indeed work.

Some notes on the subject:

1a. The picture and the frame are gone from the login screen (depending on your login settings--you may have an empty picture frame) and the Start Menu, but one is now left with an odd blank area at the top of the Start Menu:

It's personal preference, but some of you may prefer to simply customize the picture rather than have this blank area.
To do this, click the Start orb, Control Panel, User Accounts, Change your picture, Browse for more pictures..., and add any picture you like from your computer.

2a. The folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures" is a hidden folder.
To access it, click the Start orb, Control Panel, Folder Options, View (tab), and select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives." Also, uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" in the same tab in order to change the extension from ".bmp" to ".ren" in the following instructions. Then follow the remainder of JeremyWW's instructions:

1. Go here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
2. Rename user.bmp and guest.bmp to user.ren and guest.ren respectively. (The suffix actually doesn't matter - I just chose ren (stands for 'renamed')
3. Reboot

3a. Renaming "guest.bmp" is optional for the purpose of removing the picture from your own account.

4a. You should reverse the instructions in "2a" once you have finished renaming "user.bmp."
Click the Start orb, Control Panel, Folder Options, View (tab), and select "Don't show hidden files, folders, or drives." Also, check "Hide extensions for known file types" in the same tab.