Have you checked if the client machine when pressing F8?
To fix this error, press on the error screen to open the command prompt in WinPE. (Note: Enable Command Support in your Boot Image properties beforehand). 1. Verify Network Connectivity and IP Address unable to download pxe variable file. exit code 14 sccm
In the command prompt, type ipconfig . If you see no IP address, or no network adapters listed, WinPE cannot see your network card. The Fix: Identify the exact NIC model of the target computer. Have you checked if the client machine when pressing F8
Unable to download PXE variable file. Exit code=14 + 0x8004016c The Fix: Identify the exact NIC model of the target computer
No—this is a misleading error message. In SCCM contexts, it almost always indicates a network connectivity issue during the download of the PXE variable file. The system returns error 14 because it's a Windows system error code that gets triggered when a network operation fails in certain contexts.