title: django Cannot find static/css files error 404
body: <p>This problem seems to be widely known, however, most are old Q&amp;A's and they do not solve my problem.</p>
  
  <p>I am using Django 2.0.2 and when my simple web page is not rendering my bootstrap.css file because it simply cannot find it.</p>
  
  <p>I am following this tutorial: <a href="https://simpleisbetterthancomplex.com/series/2017/09/11/a-complete-beginners-guide-to-django-part-2.html#static-files-setup" rel="noreferrer">https://simpleisbetterthancomplex.com/series/2017/09/11/a-complete-beginners-guide-to-django-part-2.html#static-files-setup</a></p>
  
  <p>This is my file structure:</p>
  
  <pre><code>myproject/
   |-- myproject/
   |    |-- boards/
   |    |-- myproject/
   |    |-- templates/
   |    |-- static/
   |    |    +-- css/
   |    |         +-- bootstrap.min.css    &lt;-- here
   |    +-- manage.py
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is my static variables defined in the <code>settings.py</code> file.</p>
  
  <pre><code>STATIC_URL = '/static/'
  
  STATICFILES_DIR = [
      os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
  ]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is my <code>home.html</code> file as is with the bottom half cut out for brevity.</p>
  
  <pre><code>{% load static %}&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
  &lt;html&gt;
    &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;meta charset="utf-8"&gt;
      &lt;title&gt;Boards&lt;/title&gt;
      &lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/bootstrap.min.css' %}"&gt;
    &lt;/head&gt;
    &lt;body&gt;
      &lt;h1&gt;Boards&lt;/h1&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have debugging set to true, and when I run my server and load it up, I am presented with the following: <code>[08/Feb/2018 19:26:02] "GET /static/css/bootstrap.css HTTP/1.1" 404 1675</code></p>
  
  <p>I am also not able to visit this URL as it states a 404 error too: <code>http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/css/bootstrap.min.css</code>.</p>
  
  <p>I'm not sure as to why Django cannot find the .css file when I have it clearly stated in the above files. No other StackOverflow questions/answers have helped me either.</p>
  
  <p>Open to suggestions; any help is much appreciated.</p>