I have listed some tips for you that will hopefully be helpful. 1. You need to build the network drivers into WinPE with DISM Dism /image:R:\mountdir /Add-Driver /Driver:K:\driverdirectory\driver.inf 2. 'winpeinit' initializes WinPE and then 'wpeutil InitializeNetwork' initilizes the network. startup.cmd example @echo off wpeinit wpeutil WaitForRemovableStorage wpeutil InitializeNetwork ipconfig /all 3. 'but then PE automatically gives a 169 addres, says that it is an unknown network and wont show me the prompt to choose what type of network.' This is a common symptom of Windows machines which have been configured for DHCP but for whatever reason are unable to contact a DHCP server.