Database Develop

Gallery is not honoring .nomedia

I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have placed a file called .nomedia in each of the image folders I don't want in the gallery, but they remain.
I've restarted the phone, Force Stop, and Clear Data. I've unmounted and remounted the SD card, manually, and through the USB mount.
Even deleted an image through the gallery and it refreshed.
To create the file I tried:
-touch .nomedia
-creating a file called .nomedia in a text editor
-empty .nomedia files, and ones with something in them
-creating it on the phone, and on the computer
The file has no 'hidden extension' I'm sure of that, especially when I used touch. I can see the file in ASTRO when viewing hidden files, it is correct.
I've either gone completely crazy, my phone is messing with me, or I've overlooked something very simple.
Any one have any ideas?
Running stock 2.2 right now.

Add a "." to the beginning of folder name instead.

Yes, I know that works. But I would prefer not to do that. Because I can't easily browse to those folders, as I need them for other things in different applications, some of which won't let me view the hidden files.
I am beginning to wonder if I should try a wipe of the SD card and put everything back on. It seems that there is something fishy going on.

I've recently done this with several folders on my N1, a few that had ringtone mp3's in it and some others with jpg's I didn't want showing up in notification or gallery.
After remounting the SD card, they no longer showed in Gallery... but you've done lots more than that, so I can't imagine what the problem could be.
I just created a new file using Ghost Explorer, but have also done it in the past mounting the SD card and creating the filename (touch)

Ok, so not sure how I fixed it, because I went the nuclear route. Backed it up, formatted, and copied everything back. Also opened the gallery while it was unmounted, and recreated all the .nomedia files.
Something there fixed it...
Wait a minute, maybe not... I don't see any images apart from the Picasa linked ones
The logcat actually showed that it was finding and ignoring .nomedia files though.
Well, I'll just have to find a happy medium. I'll give it some time to see if it will scan for more, and check for extra .nomedia in the wrong places.

Oh how lovely, they're all back. And I still see a whole lot of .nomedia being ignored in the logcat.
Eh, enough fiddling for the day.

Could you show us the lines in logcat where it's ignoring .nomedia?

Oh, it's not very helpful. No mention of the directory. Just a lot of lines saying
Code:
D/ ( 3214): found .nomedia, skipping directory
Over and over, exactly the same.

You say you placed a file called .nomedia in folders you want hidden but they still show. What about folders that already have .nomedia, are they showing as well? Maybe, if you haven't tried. Copy an orignal .nomedia file from a folder not showing up in your gallery to your personal folders.

It sounds like you created the .nomedia file from your phone directly. I don't know how that works, but here's what worked for me:
Open text editor (notepad in Windows), File -> Save As, give ".nomedia" as the name, and under "Save as type", use "All files". This made a file that worked for me.
Also make sure you have the file browser showing file extensions, so you know that .nomedia file isn't actually .nomedia.xxx.

Sistum Id said:
You say you placed a file called .nomedia in folders you want hidden but they still show. What about folders that already have .nomedia, are they showing as well? Maybe, if you haven't tried. Copy an orignal .nomedia file from a folder not showing up in your gallery to your personal folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've tried that too, what I think is that there is some sort of cache or something in the gallery app that I an't get rid of. I've tried another gallery app form the market, and it works with the .nomedia perfectly. If this really ends up driving me crazy I'll wait until I flash CM6 and see if that fixes it, just don't want to right now while I'm away on vacation.
cigar3tte said:
It sounds like you created the .nomedia file from your phone directly. I don't know how that works, but here's what worked for me:
Open text editor (notepad in Windows), File -> Save As, give ".nomedia" as the name, and under "Save as type", use "All files". This made a file that worked for me.
Also make sure you have the file browser showing file extensions, so you know that .nomedia file isn't actually .nomedia.xxx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, if you read my original post I've created the file many times, many ways. I know about extensions, I know how these things work. I've always just used touch before to do it, but this time since it didn't work I tried many other ways just to be sure. ls -al on the directory shows it is .nomedia exactly, nothing more, nothing less.

Clarkster said:
Yeah, I've tried that too, what I think is that there is some sort of cache or something in the gallery app that I an't get rid of. I've tried another gallery app form the market, and it works with the .nomedia perfectly. If this really ends up driving me crazy I'll wait until I flash CM6 and see if that fixes it,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i'm in the same boat, i've got Google maps icons in the gallery and some other assorted stuff that doesn't belong there. Did a Google search on the .nomedia thing, tried to incorporate a .nomedia (TXT) file into the offending folder a couple different ways but they're still there. I think i'll do the same, flash CM6 then go from there.
Interesting thought about the cache thing, I wonder if it could be something related?

Did you all clear the Media cache? I'd say force close it, clear its cache, then relaunch it?
Something weird is going on.. I had this happen too, but only because I hadn't remounted my SD card.

khaytsus said:
Did you all clear the Media cache? I'd say force close it, clear its cache, then relaunch it?
Something weird is going on.. I had this happen too, but only because I hadn't remounted my SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I mentioned that in the first post. Force stopped it and cleared the cache.
There seems to literally be nothing left to do other than try a complete wipe, which I will do when I get CM6 on it.

[Android 2.1+] Undelete - Recover Deleted Files - 2.0 Released - Now Free!

MOD EDIT: links removed
UNDELETE - RECOVER YOUR FILES ON THE GO
Undelete for Android is an application for root users that allows you to recover any type of deleted file from your SD card or internal storage. With support for over 1000 file types, Undelete can come in handy if you accidentally delete photos or want some old tunes to listen to. Undelete can also securely wipe and shred files so that they will be impossible for others to recover.
WARNING: DATA RECOVERY IS NOT GUARANTEED. Sometimes even recently deleted files can be corrupted beyond repair as the operating system writes new files to memory.
Features:
- Restore any file that has not been written over
- Securely wipe/shred files
- Thumbnail generation
- Works with images, video, music, archives and binaries
- Batch operations
- Preview media files
Currently, only FAT is supported. On Tegra devices, only the external SD is supported. EXT 4 will probably never be supported - use a desktop tool (if you can find one).
Some files that are discovered after a scan may fail to recover as data may be corrupted beyond repair, just like desktop based solutions.
INTERNET and READ DATA permissions are needed for the logging system. Logs are only sent manually with your permission through the "Write to us" dialog.
Market link:
Screens:

Bump bump

So any issues with the Release Candidate?

Yeah thats great. And when youre traveling i suppose youll need it a computer and lots of cables...
Also, its bad form to advertise other tools in a paid software thread. Not a great start to your XDA membership.

ftgg99 said:
So any issues with the Release Candidate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no issues on my DInc2. for the few times i've had to use it, it worked as intended. i've restored about six pictures and an mp3 with no troubles. even found pictures and music i had deleted long ago, and restored them for kicks.
one question though, should Undelete reside on the phone, or is it okay to move it to the SD as well? i've never tried to move it to the SD because i assumed it would cause issues. Undelete is quite small so having it on the phone really isn't an issue, but i like to keep as many apps on the SD as possible.
thanks for the great app. my fat fingers thank you too.

There should be no issues. If you do have some, let me know!
And of course, please leave a review on the market, that can help a lot, considering how many crumby reviews this app gets...
Thanks!

That sounds like something worth checking out

Please do! Let me know if you have any issues!

Any issues to report?

Is there an app that will ensure proper deletion so that apps like this don't work?

tejrl said:
Is there an app that will ensure proper deletion so that apps like this don't work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This app will do it! Did i forget to leave that out of the description? You have to long press an item an choose "wipe".
You can also wipe in batch mode.

App is on saly - $2 dollars for to coincide with the upcoming release of 1.5!

We have almost completed work on Undelete 2.0 - it will be released tomorrow!

Looking forward to it! I saw the beta on the other site, but it was locked

Its coming in an hour or so!

Working perfectly THANK YOU!

Thank you! Enjoy!

Is there a hidden place where I can get this?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

0mie said:
Is there a hidden place where I can get this?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Silly me i forgot to post the link. Done.

Anything to report?
Sent from my GT-P7500 using xda premium

[SOUNDS][CWM] Android Sounds Compilation - Flashable - v1.5.3 (29/04/2015)

Hello everyone,
I spent some time extracting ROMs and having a look at their sound files to make a compilation of my own. I also gathered a small list of sounds from freesound.org and added them in.
After countless hours of searching, choosing, reorganising, renaming and tagging, I put together most of the ringtones, alarms and notifications coming from Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, etc. I omitted quite a few, because I followed some strict rules to make the set as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Some highlights regarding the content :
Most AOSP sounds up to KitKat
Most Samsung, Motorola, HTC and LG sounds
Fallout Level Up sound, Katniss whistle sound from Hunger Games, Bombay Sapphire advertisement music, etc...
The rules of selection were :
No licenced music
No lyrics
Audible sounds, focused on treble rather than bass (for phone speakers)
No high-pitched horrors (CyanogenMod, I'm looking at you)
What does this package do?
It removes all ringtones, notifications and alarms from your device
It replaces them with this rather large compilation, most likely containing the sound files that were previously erased
It sets the right permissions so that sounds are playable
It prevents duplicate sounds
All right, but technically speaking, what does this package do?
rm -rf /system/media/audio/ringtones /system/media/audio/alarms /system/media/audio/notifications
Package extracted to /system
chmod -R 644 /system/media/audio/ringtones /system/media/audio/alarms /system/media/audio/notifications
Why not just put those sounds in the SDCard?
Well, for one I like to keep my SDCard as clean as possible. Also, you'll end up with duplicates conflicting with the sounds already present in /system/media and I have no patience to weed them out systematically. Plus, I really like the idea of flashing a ROM, then flash this package right over it to replace the default sounds. As I said, most of the stock sounds from Google, HTC, Samsung et al. are in the package already.
Isn't this going to blow up my system partition?
I tried it on a Galaxy Gio with CM10 and /system still had several megabytes free. The package can be flashed on most devices, I believe, but exceptions can occur if you are the proud owner of a device with a very small system partition.
Screw your damn package, I don't have enough space and/or I am not about to root my phone to flash this stuff!
No problem, you can still download it and extract the Notifications, Alarms and Ringtones directories to your SDCard. The ringtones will be visible by your phone/tablet either instantly or upon the next media scan. Keep in mind it's very likely you'll get duplicates, and if it annoys you, you can always weed them out with a file explorer.
Are you going to update this package?
Yes, occasionally, when I hear something cool and fit to be used as a phone or tablet sound. I do this mostly for myself, but I thought I could share for those who don't like to spend time sorting out their notifications and ringtones...
Can I add stuff to the package?
Yes, definitely. Just use a decent program like 7zip to open the file, and add stuff to whichever directory in system/media. It will be treated by the script just like any other file.
Can I suggest new sounds?
Of course, I'd be happy to add anything that sounds cool. However, I will still veto horrible stuff - I know it's subjective, so if you really need it please see the question above.
Enough talk, where can I get it?
Here - Big enough for you?
Don't hesitate to provide me with suggestions, feedback, remarks, insults, etc.
Cheers,
Antonius Maximus.
--

....
AntoniusMaximus said:
Hello everyone,
I spent some time extracting ROMs and having a look at their sound files to make a compilation of my own. I also gathered a small list of sounds from freesound.org and added them in.
After countless hours of searching, choosing, reorganising, renaming and tagging, I put together most of the ringtones, alarms and notifications coming from Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, etc. I omitted quite a few, because I followed some strict rules to make the set as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Some highlights regarding the content :
Most AOSP sounds up to KitKat
Most Samsung, Motorola, HTC and LG sounds
Fallout Level Up sound, Katniss whistle sound from Hunger Games, Bombay Sapphire advertisement music, etc...
The rules of selection were :
No licenced music
No lyrics
Audible sounds, focused on treble rather than bass (for phone speakers)
No high-pitched horrors (CyanogenMod, I'm looking at you)
What does this package do?
It removes all ringtones, notifications and alarms from your device
It replaces them with this rather large compilation, most likely containing the sound files that were previously erased
It sets the right permissions so that sounds are playable
It prevents duplicate sounds
All right, but technically speaking, what does this package do?
rm -rf /system/media/audio/ringtones /system/media/audio/alarms /system/media/audio/notifications
Package extracted to /system
chmod -R 644 /system/media/audio/ringtones /system/media/audio/alarms /system/media/audio/notifications
Why not just put those sounds in the SDCard?
Well, for one I like to keep my SDCard as clean as possible. Also, you'll end up with duplicates conflicting with the sounds already present in /system/media and I have no patience to weed them out systematically. Plus, I really like the idea of flashing a ROM, then flash this package right over it to replace the default sounds. As I said, most of the stock sounds from Google, HTC, Samsung et al. are in the package already.
Isn't this going to blow up my system partition?
I tried it on a Galaxy Gio with CM10 and /system still had several megabytes free. The package can be flashed on most devices, I believe, but exceptions can occur if you are the proud owner of a device with a very small system partition.
Screw your damn package, I don't have enough space and/or I am not about to root my phone to flash this stuff!
No problem, you can still download it and extract the Notifications, Alarms and Ringtones directories to your SDCard. The ringtones will be visible by your phone/tablet either instantly or upon the next media scan. Keep in mind it's very likely you'll get duplicates, and if it annoys you, you can always weed them out with a file explorer.
Are you going to update this package?
Yes, occasionally, when I hear something cool and fit to be used as a phone or tablet sound. I do this mostly for myself, but I thought I could share for those who don't like to spend time sorting out their notifications and ringtones...
Can I add stuff to the package?
Yes, definitely. Just use a decent program like 7zip to open the file, and add stuff to whichever directory in system/media. It will be treated by the script just like any other file.
Can I suggest new sounds?
Of course, I'd be happy to add anything that sounds cool. However, I will still veto horrible stuff - I know it's subjective, so if you really need it please see the question above.
Enough talk, where can I get it?
Here - Big enough for you?
Don't hesitate to provide me with suggestions, feedback, remarks, insults, etc.
Cheers,
Antonius Maximus.
--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This got me really excited as I have been trying to figure out a way to get my sounds into our ROM...
I edited the zip and added my ogg sounds and flashed and it didn't change anything?
So I tried flashing your zip as is and it also didn't change anything?? What am I doing wrong? Its flashing fine...but everything is still the same upon reboot...?
any help would be great as I want to figure out how to make this work...I noticed you have CWM in brackets in the OP...Is it not compatible with aosp based ROMs??

Ariesdroid said:
This got me really excited as I have been trying to figure out a way to get my sounds into our ROM...
I edited the zip and added my ogg sounds and flashed and it didn't change anything?
So I tried flashing your zip as is and it also didn't change anything?? What am I doing wrong? Its flashing fine...but everything is still the same upon reboot...?
any help would be great as I want to figure out how to make this work...I noticed you have CWM in brackets in the OP...Is it not compatible with aosp based ROMs??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All right, I have redone the script using busybox instead of mounting proprietary partitions. Re-download and try it out, it worked well on my Galaxy Note 2.

..
AntoniusMaximus said:
All right, I have redone the script using busybox instead of mounting proprietary partitions. Re-download and try it out, it worked well on my Galaxy Note 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, would that mean people need to have busybox installed? I do myself as I always have it....but just wondering...

Ariesdroid said:
Cool, would that mean people need to have busybox installed? I do myself as I always have it....but just wondering...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Fortunately it's rather easy to install.

thanks!!Its working now! going to edit it tonight add some of sounds...thanks again...
Sent from my unknown using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Hey there. Thanks for the great sounds package. So can I just flash this on top of my current rom? I have a Nexus 5 running SlimKat 4.4.2. I wasn't sure if this is meant to be flashed right after a fresh rom install...Also, can I use TWRP Recovery instead of CWM? Thanks a lot!

....
AntoniusMaximus said:
Yes. Fortunately it's rather easy to install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed...thanks so much for this! Its working perfect.
I have a weird issue though. I've created about 15 notifications and 20 ringtones and I have them named. When I copy them into the zip they are still named properly, but when I open up the sound options in the rom, they show up as long numbers.... like a ringtone called Groove is showing as 1626253535446353500005353. lol. Do you have any idea why that would happen?? I know its something to do with my files. I edited the sounds in cool edit, exported as .mp3 and then converted them to .ogg ....the strangest thing is some of them stay named properly and some of them turn into the long numbers??
that's the last thing I need to figure out in order to make this perfect. The sounds still play fine...its just kind of annoying that the names don't show up properly...

dave2metz said:
Hey there. Thanks for the great sounds package. So can I just flash this on top of my current rom? I have a Nexus 5 running SlimKat 4.4.2. I wasn't sure if this is meant to be flashed right after a fresh rom install...Also, can I use TWRP Recovery instead of CWM? Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, flash it on top of anything fresh or not fresh. Keep in mind this is a replacement package, which means it will delete all of your ringtones, alarms and notifications! It will replace them with what's included in the package. As I said above, if you wish to add any custom files, just open the zip and put anything you want (.ogg or .mp3 only) in the appropriate directories.
Ariesdroid said:
Indeed...thanks so much for this! Its working perfect.
I have a weird issue though. I've created about 15 notifications and 20 ringtones and I have them named. When I copy them into the zip they are still named properly, but when I open up the sound options in the rom, they show up as long numbers.... like a ringtone called Groove is showing as 1626253535446353500005353. lol. Do you have any idea why that would happen?? I know its something to do with my files. I edited the sounds in cool edit, exported as .mp3 and then converted them to .ogg ....the strangest thing is some of them stay named properly and some of them turn into the long numbers??
that's the last thing I need to figure out in order to make this perfect. The sounds still play fine...its just kind of annoying that the names don't show up properly...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android will use file names as a last resort. Instead, it reads the file's ID3 Tag (for mp3) or Vorbis Comments (for ogg). All my files has been properly tagged. I suspect your files have bad comments.
Download this free program, mp3tag. It is extremely useful, and not just for ringtones. Put all of your custom files in the same directory and open that directory with mp3tag... I'm pretty sure that despite your clean file names, the tags are all messed up. :laugh:
As usual, keep me posted. And if you have any sound suggestions, I'm also all ears.
Cheers,
Antonius Maximus.
--

AntoniusMaximus said:
Yes, flash it on top of anything fresh or not fresh. Keep in mind this is a replacement package, which means it will delete all of your ringtones, alarms and notifications! It will replace them with what's included in the package. As I said above, if you wish to add any custom files, just open the zip and put anything you want (.ogg or .mp3 only) in the appropriate directories.
Android will use file names as a last resort. Instead, it reads the file's ID3 Tag (for mp3) or Vorbis Comments (for ogg). All my files has been properly tagged. I suspect your files have bad comments.
Download this free program, mp3tag. It is extremely useful, and not just for ringtones. Put all of your custom files in the same directory and open that directory with mp3tag... I'm pretty sure that despite your clean file names, the tags are all messed up. :laugh:
As usual, keep me posted. And if you have any sound suggestions, I'm also all ears.
Cheers,
Antonius Maximus.
--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm...So what exactly do I have to do to tag them properly? Is it that part of the program where you stamp them? I tried renaming them and stamping them all and they are still showing up as huge numbers even though I removed the huge numbers and replaced them with the tone name? confused...lol...im brand new to these types of files....do I have to buy a tag?? I just don't understand how some of them are working and showing up fine and others aren't...when I edited them all in the same program and exported and converted them all the same way....

Ariesdroid said:
Hmmm...So what exactly do I have to do to tag them properly? Is it that part of the program where you stamp them? I tried renaming them and stamping them all and they are still showing up as huge numbers even though I removed the huge numbers and replaced them with the tone name? confused...lol...im brand new to these types of files....do I have to buy a tag?? I just don't understand how some of them are working and showing up fine and others aren't...when I edited them all in the same program and exported and converted them all the same way....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know what, just attach the problematic file here and I'll have a look at what's wrong with it.

I think i figured it out already...I bought a sample pack that i used to make some of the sounds...I just edited them shorter and then then bounced them as wavs...its only files that used those sounds that aren't naming properly...think I'm just gonna scrap them and sample/edit my own instead...thx though
Sent from my unknown using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Awesome man! Thanks for this. I made my notification sound the chewy toy sound and it drives my black lab pup nuts! Every time she hears it she goes and finds her squeaky toy to make sure it's still there.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Tks for this!!
Jfltespr-Liquid Smooth nightly

Thats a great idea. I have to try it. Thanks

Love this. Thanks so much for your work. I'm so picky about properly named / tagged files. Much appreciated.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

thanks a lot for taking the time to do this, i'm flashing the zip this evening

Download link doesnot exist anymore
"Het gewenste bestand bestaat niet."

Still in business?

Link is dead....

[Q] File Explorer/manger on WP 8 ?

Just got my wife a Lumia 520 and i noticed it does not have a file manager... is this normal?
I'm used to have file manager on Android so this is quite lame...
Also any idea on how to add musics (MP3/WMA) on the ringtones?
Thks

So... the Internet has these things called "search engines" which you can use to find all manner of cool things. You should really try using one of them.
1: Yes, it's normal that there is no file manager built into WP8. There wasn't one in WP7, either. This is not news. Know what you're buying...
2: There are apps (both on the Store and on this forum) which add very limited file browsing and management capability. However, the OS is extremely restrictive of app permissions - moreso than your typical Android build - so most of the filesystem is unreadable and all but a tiny portion of what's left is read-only.
3: Did you even read the little info sheet that comes with your phone? You would save us all a bunch of time if you did. Connect the phone to your computer using USB. It will appear as an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device. You can use this to copy media files (including songs and ringtones) to the phone, as well as copying other media files (such as pictures or video you took) from the phone to the PC. If you're running Windows, it will also offer to install an app to make synching easier. Pretty much every OS has tools for working with MTP devices, including all desktop-oriented Linux distros I've ever tried.

Think of the apps as the file browser. An app that can manipulate a certain file type will show you all of that type of file on your phone. Coming from android you will have to rework your way of using your phone. And SKY DRIVE is your friend. And I'm glad you posted your question because I for one have used and love wp8 although I use my note 2 as my daily. I love people that say search for the answer yet give a long drawn out sarcastic answer anyway.
1.No file browser.
2.Use apps for manipulation of said files
3.Sky drive is your friend. It COULD be said it's wp8s file manager.
4. Have fun!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

You can hook your phone to your PC and use the Windows Phone app for desk top, this will let you browse your files as far as music, ringtones, pictures and videos; I'm not sure if it includes documents but it the closest to what you are looking for because system files are off limit like the guys just explained.
What I don't understand is if you can view your files from your PC why can you do the same from the phone? Oh well maybe one day like in an update; this would be cool for browsing for files on your SD card...

GoodDayToDie said:
So... the Internet has these things called "search engines" which you can use to find all manner of cool things. You should really try using one of them.
1: Yes, it's normal that there is no file manager built into WP8. There wasn't one in WP7, either. This is not news. Know what you're buying...
2: There are apps (both on the Store and on this forum) which add very limited file browsing and management capability. However, the OS is extremely restrictive of app permissions - moreso than your typical Android build - so most of the filesystem is unreadable and all but a tiny portion of what's left is read-only.
3: Did you even read the little info sheet that comes with your phone? You would save us all a bunch of time if you did. Connect the phone to your computer using USB. It will appear as an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device. You can use this to copy media files (including songs and ringtones) to the phone, as well as copying other media files (such as pictures or video you took) from the phone to the PC. If you're running Windows, it will also offer to install an app to make synching easier. Pretty much every OS has tools for working with MTP devices, including all desktop-oriented Linux distros I've ever tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so i appreciated the help but i don't really explain well in the OP.
I apologize for the way i wrote the OP, i was frustrated after unsuccessful search for a way to work around the limitations of the OS...
I did not know that the WP7 and 8 did not add an file manager, but the other part i did know :/ so no need to be so sarcastic in your reply (last time a used a Windows based phone it add windows mobile and it did have file explorer much like other OS's).
What i really meant was if anyone knows a way to work around the OS locks on the file system and of course an file explorer that uses it... But after more search i find none
I'm still pretty happy with the lumia 520... just frustrated that i cant add files were i wanted.

Yeah, that exact question has been asked before. People are working on it. Part of the reason I wrote my webserver app was to facilitate deeper exploration of WP8 in the hopes of finding a way to unlock more permissions. So far, no dice. The OS is still young, however.
With that said, from a "what can I do with it" perspective, it's best to think of WP8 as being like iOS: until or unless "jailbroken", everything runs with extremely low permissions.

GoodDayToDie said:
Yeah, that exact question has been asked before. People are working on it. Part of the reason I wrote my webserver app was to facilitate deeper exploration of WP8 in the hopes of finding a way to unlock more permissions. So far, no dice. The OS is still young, however.
With that said, from a "what can I do with it" perspective, it's best to think of WP8 as being like iOS: until or unless "jailbroken", everything runs with extremely low permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks for the info .
After some research i got the idea that WP8 as worst than iOS in terms of restrictions :/...
Thats really a shame because this Lumia 520 hardware its really nice for the price. It will be awesome wen someone is able to root it.
Still i will keep using Android on my personal phone... (this one was bought for my wife).

sinister1 said:
You can hook your phone to your PC and use the Windows Phone app for desk top, this will let you browse your files as far as music, ringtones, pictures and videos; I'm not sure if it includes documents but it the closest to what you are looking for because system files are off limit like the guys just explained.
What I don't understand is if you can view your files from your PC why can you do the same from the phone? Oh well maybe one day like in an update; this would be cool for browsing for files on your SD card...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far i can't move files (wma and MP3) to the inner folders on the ringtone folder... and the custom ringtone option does not let me chose other files than the one it came from factory
Not really a big bummer but it just seems a stupid limitation...

"Inner folders"? I just dragged files to Phone\Ringtones and they appeared at the top of the list, under "Custom". I didn't even need to resize them or change the genre, as WP7 required.

GoodDayToDie said:
"Inner folders"? I just dragged files to Phone\Ringtones and they appeared at the top of the list, under "Custom". I didn't even need to resize them or change the genre, as WP7 required.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i tried every folder on the phone (that are available to the user) and the OS still does not let me choose custom musics for ringtones... :/

Exnor said:
Well i tried every folder on the phone (that are available to the user) and the OS still does not let me choose custom musics for ringtones... :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Music files should go into the music folder and ringtone files go into the ringtone folder, this is what I did; I put in an SD card and created Folders on it with the same name as the ones on the internal storage and placed all my music and ringtone files there, when you go to ringtones it shows up under custom, if your talking about alert tones for MMS or SMS then you are out of luck other than ringtones the only thing you can change is your alarm tones.
This is a big mistake by MS by not allowing users to use customer tones form email and SMS or MMS their are customers that are actually returning their phones and exchanging them for Android and even iPhones because of this and other limitations. Users have been asking for this since 2011 on MS's very own suggestion page (check it out here) and MS hasn't even responded or given a hit to fixing this issue.
For you guys who know me well and see that I bring this subject up a lot, I apologize but MS needs to wake up and stop trying to restrict even the simplest of tasks.

1. Connect the phone via USB. An MTP device, with the phone's name, will appear (for example, in Windows Explorer).
2. Open the phone device. You will see a "drive" called "Phone". There may be a second volume called "SD card".
3. Open the Phone volume. You will see the following folders: Documents, Music, Pictures, Ringtones, Video.
4. Open the Rintones folder. It should not have any sub-folders.
5. Copy the music you want to use, as MP3 or DRM-free WMA (I think DRM-free AAC/M4A also works), into this folder.
6. On the phone, go to Settings, then Ringtones+Sounds, and tap on the box under Ringtone.
7. Scroll to the top of the list. There will be a header "Custom", under which the music you added to the Ringtones folder will be listed (by title metadata, not file name).
8. Tap the Play icon beside a song if you want to see how it sounds as a ringtone, then tap the song you want to use as your ringtone.
If this doesn't work, be very, very specific about what step looks wrong (i.e. is not as described) and what you see instead. Also, be specific about the kind of music you're trying to use. I have tested using 128Kbps (constant bit rate) stereo 44.1KHz MP3 and WMA files of up to about 4:40 long.

sinister1 said:
Music files should go into the music folder and ringtone files go into the ringtone folder, this is what I did; I put in an SD card and created Folders on it with the same name as the ones on the internal storage and placed all my music and ringtone files there, when you go to ringtones it shows up under custom, if your talking about alert tones for MMS or SMS then you are out of luck other than ringtones the only thing you can change is your alarm tones.
This is a big mistake by MS by not allowing users to use customer tones form email and SMS or MMS their are customers that are actually returning their phones and exchanging them for Android and even iPhones because of this and other limitations. Users have been asking for this since 2011 on MS's very own suggestion page (check it out here) and MS hasn't even responded or given a hit to fixing this issue.
For you guys who know me well and see that I bring this subject up a lot, I apologize but MS needs to wake up and stop trying to restrict even the simplest of tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok i'm gonna try with an SD card and i will post my results. Thks for the tip :good:

GoodDayToDie said:
1. Connect the phone via USB. An MTP device, with the phone's name, will appear (for example, in Windows Explorer).
2. Open the phone device. You will see a "drive" called "Phone". There may be a second volume called "SD card".
3. Open the Phone volume. You will see the following folders: Documents, Music, Pictures, Ringtones, Video.
4. Open the Rintones folder. It should not have any sub-folders.
5. Copy the music you want to use, as MP3 or DRM-free WMA (I think DRM-free AAC/M4A also works), into this folder.
6. On the phone, go to Settings, then Ringtones+Sounds, and tap on the box under Ringtone.
7. Scroll to the top of the list. There will be a header "Custom", under which the music you added to the Ringtones folder will be listed (by title metadata, not file name).
8. Tap the Play icon beside a song if you want to see how it sounds as a ringtone, then tap the song you want to use as your ringtone.
If this doesn't work, be very, very specific about what step looks wrong (i.e. is not as described) and what you see instead. Also, be specific about the kind of music you're trying to use. I have tested using 128Kbps (constant bit rate) stereo 44.1KHz MP3 and WMA files of up to about 4:40 long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep did all that ...
The only thing i did not try yet is to create a subfolder in the Ringtones folder like i've read somewhere... i will try to do all the processes again and try other tips and i will post my results as soon as i can.
Thks for the help

GoodDayToDie said:
1. Connect the phone via USB. An MTP device, with the phone's name, will appear (for example, in Windows Explorer).
2. Open the phone device. You will see a "drive" called "Phone". There may be a second volume called "SD card".
3. Open the Phone volume. You will see the following folders: Documents, Music, Pictures, Ringtones, Video.
4. Open the Rintones folder. It should not have any sub-folders.
5. Copy the music you want to use, as MP3 or DRM-free WMA (I think DRM-free AAC/M4A also works), into this folder.
6. On the phone, go to Settings, then Ringtones+Sounds, and tap on the box under Ringtone.
7. Scroll to the top of the list. There will be a header "Custom", under which the music you added to the Ringtones folder will be listed (by title metadata, not file name).
8. Tap the Play icon beside a song if you want to see how it sounds as a ringtone, then tap the song you want to use as your ringtone.
If this doesn't work, be very, very specific about what step looks wrong (i.e. is not as described) and what you see instead. Also, be specific about the kind of music you're trying to use. I have tested using 128Kbps (constant bit rate) stereo 44.1KHz MP3 and WMA files of up to about 4:40 long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally i got it to work...
Like i've said i've done the above (like you suggested) the 1st time and repeated and nothing happen.. so i reset the phone!
Copied just one file to the ringtone folder and success it worked (!). I don't know why it did not the other times ... Now my wife can copy her musics and put hers ringtones as she like.
Here is my device info in case its usefull for anyone:
model: Lumia 520
MMN: RM-914_eu_portugal_281
OS version: 8.0.10211.204
HW rev:1.0.0.0
Firmware rev: 1030.6408.1309.0003
Thanks for the help guys

OS is young and the questions you posted, really needs to be solved. MS has put too much restrictions in OS but I think it will open some APIs and remove some restrictions in WP blue update due in early 2014. I only need limited file explorer to manage my personal files, a good Music & Video app(VLC is coming) and a notification center, that's it. All would be well for me to jump the ship from Android.
Btw, try Kirik file browser. It gives you some limited accessibilities on SD card.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Vishwal said:
OS is young and the questions you posted, really needs to be solved. MS has put too much restrictions in OS but I think it will open some APIs and remove some restrictions in WP blue update due in early 2014. I only need limited file explorer to manage my personal files, a good Music & Video app(VLC is coming) and a notification center, that's it. All would be well for me to jump the ship from Android.
Btw, try Kirik file browser. It gives you some limited accessibilities on SD card.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree. MS still as lot to do on this OS... But for people who don't need more computing options its a good choice (i think i like it better than iOS...).
Thx for the tip, i've already try it does help a little.
So far besides the OS limitations my biggest disappointment is the store... there is not enough programs to satisfy my needs :/ But like i stated before i'm happy with the device (actually my wife is lol since its her that uses it).
Switching from Android... hmm no. I don't see myself switch to WP or iOS (btw i have iPod touch 4th gen) for so many reasons, but to start the integration with my Google account and services.
I had a Qtek back in 2k3 (actually was a job phone) and used Windows Mobile (or was it CE?? cant remember) and back then i love it. But the "updated" Windows OS for mobile does not give me the same experience. Android so far is my favorite (gonna give a try to Ubuntu touch since i use Ubuntu at work... lets see how it performs).

The whole thing is that WP8 is designed to protected installed apps _from other installed apps_. Any data an app writes, is completely off limits to any other application. So a file manager would be compeltely pointless. If someone would create one, you could create files and maybe even download files in the folders you created.... but no other app would ever see that data.
this makes programs that can download data (Windows File sharing, FTP clients, etc..) to be played by another program (music player, video player, etc..) impossible.
I do agree though that WP8 needs to create a single 'unmanaged, unprotected data pool' where all apps can write / read, probably organized by folders just so people understand it.
If an app then wants to write data there, it knows it got no protection and is on its own. But if an app wants to write personal data (appointments, messages, contacts, that kinda of thing) it can write it in it's own data store like WP8 is now and the data is protected from every other possible app.
If they will do this for Blue... I don't know. I haven't seen it on a list anywhere yet.

Well, you can ask the OS to open a file (the equivalent of ShellExecute on Win32) and that can be used as a form of inter-app communication and file passing (sending a file from a file browser to the media player is possible, for example). The trick is that it's a blind push; there's no way to ask for the file back, or query what files there are. Also, the other app needs to choose to download the file.
There are Capabilities in the WP8 security policies which could be used to make a decent file browser, at least for the basic stuff (media libraries, documents, a "common area" on the file system, etc.). However, we cannot currently sideload any application which uses them, and I very much doubt MS would let us publish such an app through the store (although it might be worth trying...)

GoodDayToDie said:
Well, you can ask the OS to open a file (the equivalent of ShellExecute on Win32) and that can be used as a form of inter-app communication and file passing (sending a file from a file browser to the media player is possible, for example). The trick is that it's a blind push; there's no way to ask for the file back, or query what files there are. Also, the other app needs to choose to download the file.
There are Capabilities in the WP8 security policies which could be used to make a decent file browser, at least for the basic stuff (media libraries, documents, a "common area" on the file system, etc.). However, we cannot currently sideload any application which uses them, and I very much doubt MS would let us publish such an app through the store (although it might be worth trying...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am fairly certain the current situation will probably change with WP8.1.
if wpdev voice website is an indication of their intentions for wp8.1, things will look very nice soon enough.

[SOLVED] Note 5 Photos, Ringtone MP3 disappear. And unable to set as Rgintone

Two issues with my new Note 5.
1. When I copied my mp3 ringtone file to storage/sdcard0/ringtone it worked for one day, then failed. Tried to convert to wma, ogg, mp3, the program said, "unable to set as ringtone"
2. I copied the photos from the old phone to storage/sdcard0/dcim, but the new gallery can't find them. Any solution on this?
3. Actually mp3 files disappeared too.
5.1.1 no longer have the option to select where to store your photos, any work around, or should i use third camera and gallery app?
Thanks.
Ken

If you simply use a file exploer and go to Storage/DCIM you will have your photos in the correct place.
If you are using an apk like Root Explorer just go to SDCard/DCIM - (there is no SDCard0 that I know of. (unless you are trying to create a new folder there) Just put the new folder directly in SDCard directory and you should not have any issues. I have lots of personal photos and special ringtones I copied to the phone adn they all work fine. By the way, when I transfer audio files to any of my phones, it always asks me if I want to convert the file to a diffeent format - says if I don't it may not play correctly - I never do that - and they always work fine.
Good Luck - I hope I have helped in some small way

mocsab said:
If you simply use a file exploer and go to Storage/DCIM you will have your photos in the correct place.
If you are using an apk like Root Explorer just go to SDCard/DCIM - (there is no SDCard0 that I know of. (unless you are trying to create a new folder there) Just put the new folder directly in SDCard directory and you should not have any issues. I have lots of personal photos and special ringtones I copied to the phone adn they all work fine. By the way, when I transfer audio files to any of my phones, it always asks me if I want to convert the file to a diffeent format - says if I don't it may not play correctly - I never do that - and they always work fine.
Good Luck - I hope I have helped in some small way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks Mocsab. Unfortunately, i tried, been using andriod phones for 4 years, this is the only time i felt this no longer an android product. The permission setting and other restriction make it an iOS duplicate.
Going back to my issues, it was still resolve.

bigeneral said:
thanks Mocsab. Unfortunately, i tried, been using andriod phones for 4 years, this is the only time i felt this no longer an android product. The permission setting and other restriction make it an iOS duplicate.
Going back to my issues, it was still resolve.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand - I am not sure why are having the issues you described - they didn't happen for me - and personally, i think this is one of the best Android Phones I have ever used. Love it,

yeah, now that i have my data pretty much transferred, maybe i should do a full back up and reset to factory setting. Not able to change the ringtone i've using for 10 years really bother me.....

Ok, i did a factory reset and start from scratch. I was able to setup a custom ringtone by putting the file in the same ringtone directory, and copied the photos to the DCIM folder. It actually worked for 10 hours. 10 hours later, when i deleted a whatsapp images from the Gallery app, the entire photos collections as well as my ringtone were gone, ringtone back to default setting. I think this is a bug, if anyone experience this, please share your experience.
Thanks

ok, read another forum and found a solution to change the ringtone file name to ring.mp3 and amusingly, the file show up on the list of ringtone and it works.
now the bug on why photos and music disappear still unsolved.

Custom ringtone problem
I renamed the file to ring.mp3 as you said but the note 5 is still saying can not set as ringtone. Help?

killa28 said:
I renamed the file to ring.mp3 as you said but the note 5 is still saying can not set as ringtone. Help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to see if you have a .nomedia file on your storage card root directory.
what happen to my case was, i found a .nomedia in the storage card root "/sdcard/ .nomedia" so all medias were omitted.
Now that i have deleted the file, my mp3 player work correctly.