How do I import active directory photos and sync them with my site collections?

Be sure that you have basic user profile synchronization working:


1- Import PictureUrl mapping: Go to your Central Admin site "Manage Service Applications --> User Profile Service Application --> Manager User Properties --> Picture" and select "thumbnailPhoto" as the attribute. Choose the "Import" direction". Be sure that the edit settings are "Do not allow users to edit values for this property" if you do not want photos from SharePoint Site to export to active directory. Click "OK".


2- Run a full profile sync: on the central admin site go to "Manage Service Applications -> User Profile Service -> Start profile synchronization" and select "Full".


3- Give your user permission to push photos to MySite : Go to Central Admin --> "Manage Service Applications". This time select the "User Profile Service Application" row and not the link. On the ribbon go to "Service Applications --> Sharing --> Permissions". Add your user account and give it "Full Control" permission.


4- Push the photos to MySite - This step requires that you have a MySite setup (Setup MySite). Open a powershell window and enter


Update-SPProfilePhotoStore -CreateThumbnailsForImportedPhotos 1 -MySiteHostLocation "http://YourServerName/my"


Enjoy...