Galaxy Note 3 - How to change back to default ringtones & alerts directory?

[boudicca00]

TLDR: how do I reset my ringtone path & where do I copy my custom ringtone/alert files, such that I can see BOTH the stock and custom sound files?

I decided to use some custom ringtones. On my external sd card, I made a directory called ringtones, & put them in there. I brought up a contact, used the option to choose the path to the external sd card and the subdirectory. The phone found the ringtones, and they work just fine.

However.

When I go to a contact, and try to see the OLD/stock ringtones, they're no where to be found, and it doesn't let me navigate to where the stock files are located: /system/media/audio/ringtones. When I plug my phone in, it has displayed both the external sd, and some of the directories of the internal memory (but not the system files, not surprisingly). When I go into a contact, click on the icon to choose a ringtone, it asks me to "Choose path", and the displayed path is (for the external sd card) /storage/extSdCard/ringtones. I can click the up arrow after that path, but the highest up I get in the path is a path called 0, or /storage/extSdCard. The 0 path is /storage/emulated/0, but I don't think any of the subfolders will get me able to choose the system, stock ringtones.

At this point, what I think I should have done at the beginning, was not to put the ringtones on my sd card, but look up the phone to my pc, go into the internal memory of the phone (conveniently listed as Card), and put my custom files into the directory called ringtones or alerts.

How do I fix what I've mucked up, short of resetting the whole phone back to factory settings, and setting everything back up again?
This is my first android Phone, so it's all been a learning process. Thank you for whatever help you can share!

Added:
If I go into Settings / General / Application Manager, is there one of the applications THERE that I can reset the data or cache to reset where the phone is looking for ringtones?

 

[GS3Cybrguy]

Were you ever able to resolve this issue? I have a similar problem on my GS3. Even though I am rooted I seem to be unable to reset my default ringtone folder to the one in the system directory.

 

[FBA]

In the device folder structure, there may be two folders: one called "ringtones" and the other called "notifications". If they are not there, create them under the root folder. Use the MyFiles app included in the OS. IIRC, I had to create them on my Note 3, as per the instructions I have listed in the next steps:

1) Open the MyFiles App
2) Choose "Device Storage"
3) You should now see the device folder hierarchy
4) Scroll down and look for the folders I mentioned above
5) If there are not there, create them in that folder tree

If you dump your files in these folders, they will appear where you need them to. The files you dump into the "Notifications" folder will appear in every app where you need to select a notification type.

Files in the "Ringtone" folder will appear wherever you assign the ringtones you want to use.

It has less impact on battery if you place the files in the device memory, instead of the SD card

Hope this helps you!

 

[GS3Cybrguy]

Well, the ringtones are under the system hierarchy rather than storage, but I can't get into those folders from inside the phone. So, I copied all the tones from system/media/audio/ringtones to storage/sdcard0/ringtones and I can point to that directory from inside the phone. Problem solved