Django unable to read "static" folder even though its available

It might look like a duplicate question but I read and tried various solutions and its not working for me. I'm using MAC OS and running venv with Django5.

Getting error stating the "STATICFILES_DIRS setting does not exist.".

The error output is as follows:

Desktop/Projects/Django/moviestore/moviesstore/static' in the STATICFILES_DIRS setting does not exist.

System check identified 1 issue (0 silenced).

You have 18 unapplied migration(s). Your project may not work properly until you apply the migrations for app(s): admin, auth, contenttypes, sessions. Run 'python manage.py migrate' to apply them. April 10, 2025 - 02:45:10 Django version 5.0, using settings 'moviestore.settings' Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/ Quit the server with CONTROL-C.

---

settings.py

import os
from pathlib import Path

BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent

SECRET_KEY = "**********"

DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = []

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    "home"
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    "django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware",
    "django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware",
    "django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware",
    "django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware",
    "django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware",
    "django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware",
    "django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware",
]

ROOT_URLCONF = "moviestore.urls"

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
        "DIRS": [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'moviesstore/templates')],
        "APP_DIRS": True,
        "OPTIONS": {
            "context_processors": [
                "django.template.context_processors.debug",
                "django.template.context_processors.request",
                "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
                "django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
            ],
        },
    },
]


WSGI_APPLICATION = "moviestore.wsgi.application"

DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
        "NAME": BASE_DIR / "db.sqlite3",
    }
}


AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator",
    },
    {
        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator",
    },
    {
        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator",
    },
    {
        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator",
    },
]



LANGUAGE_CODE = "en-us"

TIME_ZONE = "UTC"

USE_I18N = True

USE_TZ = True


STATIC_URL = "static/"
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
    BASE_DIR / 'moviesstore/static/',
]


DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = "django.db.models.BigAutoField"

My project tree is as follows:

I tried moving the folder to the parent directory and changing the path. It didnt work.

Tried recollecting static file and it gave similar error:

WARNINGS: ?: (staticfiles.W004) The directory '*/Desktop/Projects/Django/moviestore/static' in the STATICFILES_DIRS setting does not exist

Tried changing path to : STATICFILES_DIRS = (os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "moviesstore/static"),) but this also gives the same error:

WARNINGS: ?: (staticfiles.W004) The directory '/Users/"name"/Desktop/Projects/Django/moviestore/moviesstore/static' in the STATICFILES_DIRS setting does not exist.

Im new to Django and learning it using a book and this is not working.

I tried searching for similar issue, but I am not able to understand the solutions.

Can someone please help me identify the issue and help me understand the cause and resolution please.

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