FolderBrowserDialog doesn't appear at all when running outside of ISE

Question

I have the following code which should allow a user to pick a folder location for a specific file and then I will use that location to take action on the file. However, when I run the script outside of the ISE the FolderBrowserDialog doesn't appear at all. I have looked behind the powershell window and behind all other windows and it never appears.

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
$FolderBrowser = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$FolderBrowser.Description = "Description"
$FolderBrowser.ShowNewFolderButton = $false
$FolderBrowser.RootFolder = 'MyDocuments' 
if($FolderBrowser.ShowDialog() -eq $true){
     Do some stuff
}

Any thoughts on why it might not show up? Are there certain powershell settings that need to be turned on to have things appear from the console?

Not able to reproduce. What exactly do you mean with "outside of the ISE"? — Mathias R. Jessen, Jan 06 '17 at 15:58
In the ISE the dialog appears, but just opening powershell console to run the script it doesn't show up — Sam, Jan 06 '17 at 16:03
If I paste the cod into an PoSh console (replacing `Do some stuff` with `"Showdialog True"`) it works without problem. With Powershell V5. — , Jan 06 '17 at 16:07

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

3

I've had this issue before in PS v2, here's how I have fixed it.

Save the code in a .ps1 file and run it like this:

powershell -STA -File "path/to/file.ps1"

ISE v2 runs in STA, and console v2 runs in MTA.

More information: Could you explain STA and MTA?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

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answered Jan 06 '17 at 16:14

sodawillow

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That was it. I was on PS v2 – Sam Jan 06 '17 at 20:37

FolderBrowserDialog doesn't appear at all when running outside of ISE

1 Answers1