Based on the above tips I found some working code that uses the standard Folder Browser dialog at the following location: http://topic.csdn.net/t/20020703/05/845468.html
The Class for the extended Folder Browser Dialog
Imports System
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Public Class DirectoryDialog
Public Structure BROWSEINFO
Public hWndOwner As IntPtr
Public pIDLRoot As Integer
Public pszDisplayName As String
Public lpszTitle As String
Public ulFlags As Integer
Public lpfnCallback As Integer
Public lParam As Integer
Public iImage As Integer
End Structure
Const MAX_PATH As Integer = 260
Public Enum BrowseForTypes As Integer
Computers = 4096
Directories = 1
FilesAndDirectories = 16384
FileSystemAncestors = 8
End Enum
Declare Function CoTaskMemFree Lib "ole32" Alias "CoTaskMemFree" (ByVal hMem As IntPtr) As Integer
Declare Function lstrcat Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrcat" (ByVal lpString1 As String, ByVal lpString2 As String) As IntPtr
Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib "shell32" Alias "SHBrowseForFolder" (ByRef lpbi As BROWSEINFO) As IntPtr
Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib "shell32" Alias "SHGetPathFromIDList" (ByVal pidList As IntPtr, ByVal lpBuffer As StringBuilder) As Integer
Protected Function RunDialog(ByVal hWndOwner As IntPtr) As Boolean
Dim udtBI As BROWSEINFO = New BROWSEINFO()
Dim lpIDList As IntPtr
Dim hTitle As GCHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(Title, GCHandleType.Pinned)
udtBI.hWndOwner = hWndOwner
udtBI.lpszTitle = Title
udtBI.ulFlags = BrowseFor
Dim buffer As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder(MAX_PATH)
buffer.Length = MAX_PATH
udtBI.pszDisplayName = buffer.ToString()
lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder(udtBI)
hTitle.Free()
If lpIDList.ToInt64() <> 0 Then
If BrowseFor = BrowseForTypes.Computers Then
m_Selected = udtBI.pszDisplayName.Trim()
Else
Dim path As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder(MAX_PATH)
SHGetPathFromIDList(lpIDList, path)
m_Selected = path.ToString()
End If
CoTaskMemFree(lpIDList)
Else
Return False
End If
Return True
End Function
Public Function ShowDialog() As DialogResult
Return ShowDialog(Nothing)
End Function
Public Function ShowDialog(ByVal owner As IWin32Window) As DialogResult
Dim handle As IntPtr
If Not owner Is Nothing Then
handle = owner.Handle
Else
handle = IntPtr.Zero
End If
If RunDialog(handle) Then
Return DialogResult.OK
Else
Return DialogResult.Cancel
End If
End Function
Public Property Title() As String
Get
Return m_Title
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
If Value Is DBNull.Value Then
Throw New ArgumentNullException()
End If
m_Title = Value
End Set
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property Selected() As String
Get
Return m_Selected
End Get
End Property
Public Property BrowseFor() As BrowseForTypes
Get
Return m_BrowseFor
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As BrowseForTypes)
m_BrowseFor = Value
End Set
End Property
Private m_BrowseFor As BrowseForTypes = BrowseForTypes.Directories
Private m_Title As String = ""
Private m_Selected As String = ""
Public Sub New()
End Sub
End Class
The code to implement the extended dialog
Sub Button1Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Dim frmd As DirectoryDialog = New DirectoryDialog()
' frmd.BrowseFor = DirectoryDialog.BrowseForTypes.Directories
' frmd.BrowseFor = DirectoryDialog.BrowseForTypes.Computers
frmd.BrowseFor = DirectoryDialog.BrowseForTypes.FilesAndDirectories
frmd.Title = "Select a file or a folder"
If frmd.ShowDialog(Me) = DialogResult.OK Then
MsgBox(frmd.Selected)
End If
End Sub