An absolute path is a path that describes the location of a file or folder regardless of the current working directory; in fact, it is relative to the root directory. It contains the complete location of a file or directory, hence the name. It is also referred to as absolute pathname or full path and it always starts at the same place, which is the root directory.

Root directory in Windows contains the drive identifier and path to the sub directory or file. An example for an absolute path to the file TMSS10Inventory is:

C:\Program Files\TapeTrack\TapeTrack Server Utilities\bin\tapetrack\TMSS10Inventory

Root directory in Linux starts at the root directory and path to the sub directory or file. An example for an absolute path to the file TMSS10Inventory is:

/bin/TMSS10Inventory