How can I make windows always show full folder path

Whenever I Click on "Desktop" in windows explorer, I end up with a "hidden" path, such as this:

which makes navigating to the "one up" folder hard (I can enter a folder within desktop, then navigate "two up")

Is there any way I can get it to display like this instead:

(result achieved by navigation from the C drive)

I am not looking for a "manual shortcut", as the built-in "Desktop" shortcut appears in a lot of places and I would much rather have that one function properly instead

Answer

This is by design. Desktop is a top-level folder which is why you can't go higher.

But you can navigate to it by typing %USERPROFILE%\Desktop to get the full path. You will not see all files, because Desktop combines both C:\Users\Public\Desktop and C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop.

This is the same as Libraries. They're not actual folders, but are collections of different folders and thus you cannot navigate to a higher folder.

Creating or modifying a shortcut to these locations won't work, as Windows automatically turns it into the Desktop collection. A shortcut to is the best you can do. Question becomes, to where, your desktop, or the public (all users) desktop?