How to Fix: Unfortunately, the process android.process.media has stopped

[Kwah C]

Welcome to Android Central! This is a pretty long thread -- have you read through the whole thing and tried all of the suggestions? If so, then please give us more details about your device and the circumstances where you're encountering the message, because there can be various causes for this issue.

Hello B. Diddy. I currently own a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900 which I bought way back in November 2013. Earlier this 2017 it appeared in my notifications that there was a "update" to the current (and last updated) Lollipop 5.0 installed on the phone. After that I've been receiving the "Unfortunately, android.process.media has stopped" and also "Unfortunately, process.com.android.phone has stopped."

Tried also Clear Cache, Clear Data and Disable in the Settings > Application Manager > All > Media Storage then restarted the Device to no avail. Also tried deleting the .nomedia files then restart the Device as suggested by others but didn't work. Also tried turning off sync to all accounts, cleared cache & data for Google Play, Google Services in my phone and restarting the device but nothing happened.

After all of the steps i tried to do to fix these problems, it just made it worse with my photos and other media saved in my device not appearing in the Gallery. Fortunately, they're all still in my Device upon checking the default File Explorer App/Folder. Tried Installing FX File Explorer to re-sync my media on the Gallery and it ALMOST worked until after 2 secs, the "Unfortunately, android.process.media has stopped" will pop again and then the re-syncing/re-scanning process won't continue. Upon checking after this unsuccessful attempt, it did sync some of the files to the gallery before the process stopped.

I hope I gave you a detailed description of my problem and please let me know your thoughts/workaround on the problem.

Much thanks.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You mentioned clearing cache/data, but that sounds like only for apps. Have you also tried wiping the cache partition from the Recovery menu? https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27708

Also, are your photos on Internal Storage or an SD card? File corruption (which happens more often on SD cards than on Internal Storage) can give you process.media error.

 

[Kwah C]

Hi! Yes, already wiped the cache partition from the Recovery Menu and it still happens. Photos are both in the SD Card and Internal Storage. As I've mentioned before, this prompt only appeared after that Lollipop "update" Samsung forcibly made unto my phone early this year and before that everything was fine.

 

[B. Diddy]

Since corrupt files on the SD card can cause this kind of problem, see what happens if you Unmount the card (in Settings>Storage) and remove it. If the problem stops, then that's probably the issue. Insert the card into your PC and run chkdsk to see if it detects any bad sectors or files: https://forums.androidcentral.com/a...guide-using-chkdsk-fix-corrupted-sd-card.html

 

[msmrizwan]

Nothing above worked for me. I used the computer to install Android Gallery through wifi. Finally the popup annoying message vanished. I hope I need to clear some Gallery data and keep sufficient free space.

 

[GameDus IO]

This issue started happening to me after I forced Android updated on my NOTE.
If I restart my phone with airplane mode on, it keep showing "android.process.media" every 15 minutes. To stop it, just restart with phone with the airplane mode off.

Good luck

 

[Sharynw]

I have a Galaxy note 3 and never had an issue until a couple of weeks ago, I got this error msg popping up, after following instructions on a fix I finally had success but at the cost of loosing photos, and all my phone ring tones etc, messed my phone up big time, it happened again last week, my son sent me some photos from his galaxy s7 edge via mms, then all hell broke loose, total mess up trying to fix it so, the error popped up everytime I opened google photo's and would close the app down, I uninstalled the google photos app, problem gone. did a factory reset and all seemed ok for a while until today. I wont let it beat me, This morning my son sent me 2 photos mms, I saved the 1st one to my gallery, got the error msg, downloaded the other photo which was ok. went to gallery, 1st photo not there, only 2nd photo was there, mmmmmmm? couldn't find the 1st photo. uninstalled google photos again, then found the suspect photo after much searching, Go to My Files, All, Device Storage, Download. The 1st photo was there I deleted it, reinstalled Google Photos, opened the app and all seems ok now. The 1st photo must have somehow been corrupted when I downloaded it, only got the error message when I tried to open the Google Photos app. the device Gallery was ok but that 1st photo never appeared in the gallery only the 2nd photo was there but it was ok. After deleting the first photo the error msg has not come back. I am sorry for the long post but had to tell it while fresh in my mind. I hope this might help.
So now I have more info, my son and I have found that the problem is because the photos that came from his phone did not resize before being downloaded to my phone, it is not because of google photos but because the photo went to google photos it showed the error msg while it was still there, once I found and deleted the photo from my device download folder the msg didn't return. He sent me that same photo again today and the msg returned. Thankfully now I can pinpoint the problem and deal with it.

 

[michail71]

This has been driving me nuts for several weeks now on my LG V20 running android 7. I've gone through all the common suggestions and they seem to foul other things up for a bit but don't help with the crashing media process.

I really don't want to go through a full factory reset.

 

[B. Diddy]

This has been driving me nuts for several weeks now on my LG V20 running android 7. I've gone through all the common suggestions and they seem to foul other things up for a bit but don't help with the crashing media process.

I really don't want to go through a full factory reset.

See response in your other thread: https://forums.androidcentral.com/l...rocess-android-process-media-has-stopped.html

 

[Robbosplace]

Galaxy S5 (fixed)
Go to My Files, All, Device Storage, Download and I deleted the corrupt image that was sent via bluetooth.
Whilst I was there I deleted all in there.

Big thanks to Sharynw and B. Diddy

 

[Phillip Smith4]

My android phone is sometimes malfunctioning, can you fixed it for me?

 

[Robyn Hubers]

Thank you Sharynw!!

When you explained the problem and how you fixed it, I realised that the problem started when I tried to download a photo from an email that was sent to me.

I didn't think the photo had downloaded, but when I went to the file,all,downloads - there it was.

I deleted it and the problem is fixed!!!

Hooray.

I have already bought a new phone because the android.process.media message made my phone unusable, and I nearly spent $150 to have someone else retrieve my photos from the old phone.

I'm soooooo happy now!!!

None of the technical solutions posted by others stopped the android.process.media message coming up.

This was so simple and made complete sense as the problem started when I downloaded a photo.

 

[Jannie Mottenm]

I need the link for 4G

 

[B. Diddy]

I need the link for 4G

Welcome to Android Central! Your question doesn't seem to be related to the original question of this thread. Try posting your question as a new thread, and give more details. "Link for 4G" is very vague.

 

[Mike Veis]

Could be a bug in your software on your android phone. Try clearing the cache and data from your phone, they turn off the phone, remove the battery, wait 10 seconds, put the battery back in and turn it on. If this doesn't work, try rebooting the phone. These two methods can usually fix this problem. If not, the only way to get rid of this bug would be to do a factory reset. If this doesn't fix the problem, you may want to call your provider because it may be a hardware bug and your phone might be bad.

 

[Kahchoon Loo]

Android process media stop

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you already read through this thread?

 

[Lizran]

Hi
I waded through numerous forums including this one because of this problem. There appear to be a number of related issues associated with media. This is a bit long but might help others who have similar problems.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5.
Gallery not showing/finding all photos, and Popup “Unfortunately android.process.media has stopped”.

Tried all the fixes mentioned in forums.
Deleted the .nomedia files. Didn't work.
Go to App manager/media storage/clear cache/delete data/disable/restart/enable.
Didn’t work.

Used the same process after trying media storage on Gallery, Google Services, contacts, contact storage, etc. Still the problem recurred.
Backed up to Smart Switch.
Factory reset. Working OK. Reinstall everything from Smart Switch. Bad again.
Factory Reset. Install only basics with no Apps.
Working OK. Reinstalled the rest. Errors again.
Reformated memory card and factory reset again. Problems again.
Factory reset again. Installed basics.
Transfer 4 folders of photos from computer to memory card. Problems again.
Factory reset again.
Basic install not settings.
Working fine.
Re-install Apps and settings from Smart Switch BUT NOT PHOTOS.
All good so far 24 hours later.
In my case it seemed to be a problem with photos or the folders they were in when transferred to the phone [both internal memory and card].
You may be able to fix by deleting all photos via computer link after backing up, and doing the above fixes without factory reset..... I will never know.
Hope it helps.

Follow up. I experimented with different photos. All photos taken by my phone camera did not cause problems when transferred back and forward. Photos taken by a Galaxy Tab S2 and transferred to my phone cause problems as did a photo downloaded from the web. Photos taken with another Galaxy S5 did not appear to cause problems when transferred onto my S5.

And NO, there is no need for a factory reset.
But someone needs to fix the basic android programming?

 

[Wilson Bradley]

This is what worked for my Nook with Androidfornook sd card. Finally!!! Thank you so much for this much needed solution!!! !::-*

"This" ? The last reply or what?

 

[total_telecom]

Go into your SD card in a file explorer like solid explorer, rename your existing media folders, create new folders with the proper names, transfer your files accordingly to the new folders , then delete the old folders . Reboot your device. Also make sure you delete any .nomedia files from your SD card