How to Add or Remove Account Picture Menu on Start Menu in Windows 11
You can add or remove the account picture menu on the Windows 11 Start menu to change how the top of the menu looks. The change is made with a command in Windows Terminal, and you can reverse it at any time.
Open Windows Terminal as an administrator and run reg add “🗝️HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
What is the Account Picture Menu?
The Windows 11 Start menu has an account picture menu: a small image of your user picture at the bottom of the menu, next to the power button. Click it to open account settings, lock your PC, sign out, or switch users without opening the main Settings app .
Once hidden, the account picture no longer appears in the Start menu , and the quick access to lock, sign out and switch user goes with it. You can still do all of those from the Win plus L shortcut, Ctrl+Alt+Del, or the power options in Start.
New Feature in Recent 🪟 Windows 11 Updates
A Windows 11 update (build 26100.7922 for 24H2, also available in 25H2) added a new option to the account menu. It links directly to the Microsoft account benefits page at https://account.microsoft.com/, which makes it quicker to check and manage your Microsoft account benefits. If your PC is on an earlier build, you may not see this option.
How to Add or Remove the Account Picture Menu
Removing the account picture menu hides your user picture and makes the Start menu look cleaner. Adding it back restores the user picture and its options.
What happens? Removing the account picture menu hides the user tile from your Start menu . Adding it brings the menu back.
What You Need
Before you start, check the following:
- Administrator access to your computer
⚠️ Admin Required: Open the Windows Terminal app, making sure to run it as an administrator. Without administrator rights, the commands fail with an access denied error.
Know what to expect after you run a command. The change may not show up the moment the command finishes. If the Start menu looks the same, sign out and back in, or restart your PC, and then open Start again. Restarting File Explorer from Task Manager can also work, but signing out is the more reliable test.
One more thing to know: the setting is written under the PolicyManager\default key. That key may not be honored as a policy on every edition of Windows 11. If the command runs without errors but the account picture does not change, even after you sign out and back in, this is the most likely reason. Home and Pro can behave differently here, so test on the edition you actually use.
Steps
A wrong entry in the registry can cause problems, so take a minute to protect yourself before you run anything. Create a restore point (search for "Create a restore point" in Start, then click Create), or export the registry key you are about to change from the Registry Editor using File Export If something goes wrong, you can restore from either one.
- Open the Windows Terminal app as an administrator. Click Start, type Terminal, right-click Terminal in the results, and choose Run as administrator. Click Yes if User Account Control asks for permission. You should see a terminal window with "Administrator" in the title bar.
- Run one of the commands below, depending on what you want to do. Paste the command into the window and press Enter. The terminal should report that the operation completed successfully.
- Sign out and back in, or restart your PC, if the Start menu does not change right away. Then open Start and check the account picture.
Add Account Picture Menu to Start Menu
This is the default setting. Windows behaves this way until you change it, so you can always run the matching command to go back.
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Start\HideUserTile" /v value /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /fRemove Account Picture Menu from Start Menu
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Start\HideUserTile" /v value /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /fLearn More
For more information, see Start Policy CSP and learn more about the Start Area in Policy CSP on docs.microsoft.com.
Summary
The account picture menu on your Windows 11 Start menu gives you quick access to settings and sign-out options. If you prefer a tidier Start menu, you can hide this feature using a command in Windows Terminal. To undo it, run the command for the opposite setting, then sign out and back in. If you ever need to roll back more than that, use the restore point or registry export you made before you started.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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