User Picture Default

This module forces the picture field on the user, to contain a FID reference to the default image, configured in the account settings.

By using this module, a user picture is always available to any module/function that handles entities, because the file reference is set as a property on the entity.

Drupal's default behavior is that the code which handles a user entity must check the user_picture_default variable but this is not as flexible, since it does not populate a field with an image etc.

All you have to to is enable the module, set the path to any default user picture, in admin/config/people/accounts and enjoy.

The picture can be included in a theme/module or uploaded using the Upload default avatar module.

Drupal 8 information

The handling of user pictures has been refactored in Drupal 8, and implements the same functionality as this module.