Postgis shapefile loader 2.1 error: dbf file can not be opened

I just faced the same problem. I solved it by changing the location of shapefile. It seemed a problem of too long file name. When I moved the files up in folder tree, it worked perfectly, using the plugin.

Please check out http://www.gdal.org/ogr/drv_pg.html GDAL OGR2OGR to load shapefile data into postgis

Ogr2ogr Command to import shape into postgis

ogr2ogr -f "PostgreSQL" PG:"host=myhost user=username dbname=mydbname password=mypassword" your_shapefile.shp

For details http://www.bostongis.com/PrinterFriendly.aspx?content_name=ogr_cheatsheet

I've had the same error. In my case the solution is also the path name. The path name must not have any special characters like ä,ö or ü.