User photos aren't synced from the on-premises environment to Exchange Online in a hybrid deployment

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Exchange Online, Exchange Server 2013 Enterprise, Exchange Server 2013 Standard Edition

Original KB number:   3062745

Symptoms

You have a hybrid deployment of on-premises Microsoft Exchange Server and Exchange Online in Microsoft 365. When you change a Microsoft 365 user's photo by accessing that user's on-premises information, the change isn't synced to Exchange Online. For example, when the user views the photo in Outlook, Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App), or Skype for Business Online, the user's previous Exchange Online profile photo is still displayed.

Cause

Although the thumbnailPhoto attribute is synced from the on-premises environment to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), the following things could cause this problem.

Note

  • The thumbnailPhoto attribute can store a user photo as large as 100 kilobytes (KB).
  • Exchange Online accepts only a photo that's no larger than 10 KB from Azure AD.

Resolution

Use the Set-UserPhoto cmdlet or Outlook on the web to change the user's photo. These methods enable you to upload a photo that's as large as 500 KB.

Use the Set-UserPhoto cmdlet (for admins)

To use the Set-UserPhoto cmdlet to change a user's photo, follow these steps:

  1. Connect to Exchange Online by using remote PowerShell. To do this, follow these steps:

    Important

    To use the Set-UserPhoto cmdlet to its full size capabilities, you have to change the connection URI by appending ?proxyMethod=RPS to the ConnectionUri parameter.

    $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange
-ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/?proxyMethod=RPS
-Credential (Get-Credential) -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

    Import-PSSession $Session -AllowClobber -WarningAction SilentlyContinue
-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    For more information, see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

  2. Run the Set-UserPhoto command to change the user photo.

Use Outlook on the web

For more information about how to change a user photo in Outlook on the web, see Update my photo and account information in Outlook Web App.

More information

Admins can use the Set-UserPhoto cmdlet to change their own photo without having to change the ConnectionUri parameter. However, to change another user's photo, admins must first change the ConnectionUri parameter. If the parameter isn't changed, admins receive the following error message when they use the cmdlet to change a user's photo:

Request return error with following error message:
The remote server returned an error: (413) Request Entity Too Large...
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Set-UserPhoto], CmdletProxyException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.CmdletProxyException,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.SetUserPhoto
+ PSComputerName : outlook.office365.com

References

For more information, see User contact photos in Lync aren't displayed correctly.

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