How to use absolute paths in windows file explorer

Agreed: this is a deficiency in Windows Explorer, but there is a workaround: press Shift while right-clicking a location in either the left or right Explorer pane, and select Copy as path.

If you wish to make that menu item available without holding Shift, you can make a Registry file to change that behavior:

• Copy the text below to Notepad.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Allfilesystemobjects\shell\windows.copyaspath]
@="Copy &as path"
"Icon"="imageres.dll,-5302"
"InvokeCommandOnSelection"=dword:00000001
"VerbHandler"="{f3d06e7c-1e45-4a26-847e-f9fcdee59be0}"
"VerbName"="copyaspath"

• Save the file as CpyToPth.reg .
• Execute it.

Rather than battling Explorer's built-in preference for the namespace path, I added a context menu option to open the File system location of the selected item. Save the following as a .reg file, right-click, & merge.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\OpenFSLocation]
@="Open FileSystem Location"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\OpenFSLocation\command]
@="\"explorer.exe\" /select,\"%1\""

Opens a new Explorer window: