Photos are not appearing in Microsoft Outlook 2010

Symptoms

You have set up Outlook Photos and added photos as you require, however the photos are not appearing in Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Cause

The Global Address List (GAL) has not updated from Active Directory. The Microsoft Exchange default is for this to update at 5 AM each morning. In addition, if you are using Microsoft Outlook 2010 in cached mode it may be storing an out-of-date copy of the GAL.

Resolution

First, force an update of the GAL from the Active Directory:

1. Open Microsoft Exchange Management Shell.
2. Type Get-GlobalAddressList
3. You will be shown the name of your GAL:
4. Type Update-GlobalAddressList -Identity "<Your Global Address List Name>"
   With the example above you would type
   Update-GlobalAddressList -Identity "Default Global Address List"
   If you are in an environment with multiple Domain Controllers please see the More Information section below.

If you are using Microsoft Outlook 2010 in cached mode you will need to force a download of the updated GAL:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook.
2. Switch to the Send / Receive tab on the Ribbon.
3. Click "Send/Receive Groups" and choose "Download Address Book...":

More Information

If you are running Outlook Photos in an environment with multiple Domain Controllers you should force an update of the GAL from the Domain Controller you are using in Outlook Photos:

1. Launch Outlook Photos.
2. Choose Active Directory Options from the toolbar.
3. The Domain Controller you are using will be shown:

In Step 4 add the additional parameter -DomainController In this example the command would used would be:
Update-GlobalAddressList -Identity "Default Global Address List" -DomainController "N34DC.corp.contoso.com"