Windows 11 update is a buggy mess but Microsoft is cooking a fix

In a story as old as operating systems, the new Windows 11 KB5036980 update is causing problems for some users. Microsoft promises this time will be different, however, because it’s aware of the problem and actively looking into a fix. Should the company solve the bugs, though, you’ll have to put up with even more advertising in the Start Menu.

Microsoft has become aware of the issues as many users have been reporting them via the Feedback Hub. The problem in question is the 0x80070520 error message that appears when changing your Microsoft account profile photo. It appears to impact local users primarily, making changing images on an updated Windows 11 machine impossible. Fortunately, it doesn’t affect the wider ecosystem, meaning you can swap your photos on a different device. Still, it’s been incredibly frustrating for people.

Specifically, any attempts to change your image (or it may appear blank altogether) prompt the message “account picture error” and that the “picture cannot be saved”. As reported by WindowsLatest, this problem appears to happen because the OS cannot locate or save photos in the default path of AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures. While Microsoft is investigating the issue, the resolution is still a little while away, hopefully within the next few weeks.

The aforementioned Feedback Hub post details a preview build coming in May that should amend the problem. Eventually, the same patch will become public in June, rolling out for everyone impacted. You can check through the Update Catalog for any manual fixes that may aid the issue ahead of time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s a silver bullet just yet.

Windows 11 hasn’t had the best run in recent memory. Microsoft first earned the ire of some users by adding advertisements to the Start Menu. Worse yet, it’s even considering adding more ads to the operating system in the future. We’re hopeful the company will resolve this problem in the next couple of months, but it’s not the best look for an OS that hasn’t won hearts across the board since its introduction.