mustexist=False does not work for tkinter.filedialog.askdirectory

[william-reames-tfs]

Bug report

Bug description:

Code to reproduce

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter.filedialog import askdirectory

root = tk.Tk()
root.withdraw()
print(askdirectory(mustexist=False))

when trying to specify a folder that does not exist, an error message appears instead of allowing the selection.

CPython versions tested on:

3.13

Operating systems tested on:

Windows

[SkvProgrammer]

This is expected behavior on Windows, not a bug in your code.

✅ Why this happens

askdirectory(mustexist=False) uses the Windows "Browse for Folder" dialog (via SHBrowseForFolder), and Windows itself does not allow selecting a non-existent folder through this UI. Even if mustexist=False, Windows forces the folder to exist before you can select it and pops an error dialog if the user types a missing path.

So on Windows:

• mustexist=False does not work as intended.
• The dialog still prevents selecting non-existing directories.
• This is a Windows platform limitation, not a Tkinter bug.

📌 What you can do instead (workarounds)

1. Use asksaveasfilename to choose a folder path

Not perfect, but allows choosing a non-existing folder:

from tkinter.filedialog import asksaveasfilename
import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.withdraw()

path = asksaveasfilename(
    title="Select or create a directory",
    initialfile="new_folder",
    defaultextension="",
)
print(path)

You’ll get a filename, but you can treat it as a folder name.

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2. Use a custom dialog or entry box

Example: ask the user to type a folder path manually.

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3. Use tkinter.filedialog.askdirectory on Linux/macOS

On non-Windows systems, mustexist=False works normally and allows selecting nonexistent folders.

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📌 Conclusion

This is a Windows limitation of the native folder picker API, not a Tkinter/CPython bug.