Django error "TemplateDoesNotExist", but "Using django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader" File exists

I am also using a config parameter DIRS

similar to you and I just ran into the same problem in Django 1.8.2. The problem seems to be related to how you are calling django.shortcuts.render

(or django.shortcuts.render_to_response

) in your views - are you using them?

TL; DR - try changing your call render_to_response

in your views so that you don't pass context_instance

or any obsolete argument like the one previously django.template.RequestContext

used.If you pass in context_instance

or any obsolete argument the django template loading code uses the obsolete path that doesn't support the parameter DIRS

and your template won't loaded - even if it exists on disk.

Here's a section of relevant code from the Django ( django/shortcuts.py

) source that shows how this situation occurs:

def render_to_response(template_name, context=None,
                       context_instance=_context_instance_undefined,
                       content_type=None, status=None, dirs=_dirs_undefined,
                       dictionary=_dictionary_undefined, using=None):
    """
    Returns a HttpResponse whose content is filled with the result of calling
    django.template.loader.render_to_string() with the passed arguments.
    """
    if (context_instance is _context_instance_undefined
            and dirs is _dirs_undefined
            and dictionary is _dictionary_undefined):
        # No deprecated arguments were passed - use the new code path
        content = loader.render_to_string(template_name, context, using=using)

    else:
        # Some deprecated arguments were passed - use the legacy code path
        content = loader.render_to_string(
            template_name, context, context_instance, dirs, dictionary,
            using=using)

    return HttpResponse(content, content_type, status)

      

        
        
        
      

    

If you follow this loader method render_to_string

(c django/template/loader.py

), you can see that your template will not be loaded if you pass any deprecated arguments render_to_reponse

in your views:

def render_to_string(template_name, context=None,
                     context_instance=_context_instance_undefined,
                     dirs=_dirs_undefined,
                     dictionary=_dictionary_undefined,
                     request=None, using=None):
    """
    Loads a template and renders it with a context. Returns a string.

    template_name may be a string or a list of strings.
    """
    if (context_instance is _context_instance_undefined
            and dirs is _dirs_undefined
            and dictionary is _dictionary_undefined):
        # No deprecated arguments were passed - use the new code path
        if isinstance(template_name, (list, tuple)):
            template = select_template(template_name, using=using)
        else:
            template = get_template(template_name, using=using)
        return template.render(context, request)

    else:
        # Some deprecated arguments were passed - use the legacy code path
        for engine in _engine_list(using):
            try:
                # This is required for deprecating properly arguments specific
                # to Django templates. Remove Engine.render_to_string() at the
                # same time as this code path in Django 2.0.
                if isinstance(engine, DjangoTemplates):
                    if request is not None:
                        raise ValueError(
                            "render_to_string doesn't support the request argument "
                            "when some deprecated arguments are passed.")
                        continue
                    # Hack -- use the internal Engine instance of DjangoTemplates.
                    return engine.engine.render_to_string(
                        template_name, context, context_instance, dirs, dictionary)
                elif context_instance is not _context_instance_undefined:
                    warnings.warn(
                        "Skipping template backend %s because its render_to_string "
                        "method doesn't support the context_instance argument." %
                        engine.name, stacklevel=2)
                elif dirs is not _dirs_undefined:
                    warnings.warn(
                        "Skipping template backend %s because its render_to_string "
                        "method doesn't support the dirs argument." % engine.name,
                        stacklevel=2)
                elif dictionary is not _dictionary_undefined:
                    warnings.warn(
                        "Skipping template backend %s because its render_to_string "
                        "method doesn't support the dictionary argument." %
                        engine.name, stacklevel=2)
            except TemplateDoesNotExist:
                continue

        if template_name:
            if isinstance(template_name, (list, tuple)):
                template_name = ', '.join(template_name)
            raise TemplateDoesNotExist(template_name)
        else:
            raise TemplateDoesNotExist("No template names provided")