source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15411164/django-templates-folders Did you set TEMPLATE_DIRS in your settings.py ? Check and make sure it is set up correctly with absolute paths. This is how I make sure it is properly set: settings.py PROJECT_ROOT = os . path . abspath ( os . path . dirname ( __file__ )) TEMPLATE_DIRS = ( # Put strings here, like "/home/html/django_templates" or "C:/www/django/templates". # Always use forward slashes, even on Windows. # Don't forget to use absolute paths, not relative paths. os . path . join ( PROJECT_ROOT , 'templates' ). replace ( '\\' , '/' ), ) # List of callables that know how to import templates from various sources. TEMPLATE_LOADERS = ( 'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader' , 'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader' , # 'django.template.loaders.eggs.Loader', ) This way, I have a templates fold