diff --git a/src/rez/data/tests/solver/packages/missing_variant_package/1/package.py b/src/rez/data/tests/solver/packages/missing_variant_package/1/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20a06feef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/rez/data/tests/solver/packages/missing_variant_package/1/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+name = "missing_variant_package"
+version = "1"
+
+def commands():
+    pass
+
+variants = [
+    ["noexist"],
+    ["nada"]
+]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/rez/tests/test_solver.py b/src/rez/tests/test_solver.py
index 6422bcf07..1c229911c 100644
--- a/src/rez/tests/test_solver.py
+++ b/src/rez/tests/test_solver.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 """
 from __future__ import print_function
 
+import rez.exceptions
 from rez.vendor.version.requirement import Requirement
 from rez.solver import Solver, Cycle, SolverStatus
 from rez.config import config
@@ -248,6 +249,13 @@ def test_11_variant_splitting(self):
                      "test_variant_split_mid2-2.0[0]",
                      "test_variant_split_start-1.0[1]"])
 
+    def test_12_missing_variant_package(self):
+        config.override("error_on_missing_variant_packages", True)
+        with self.assertRaises(rez.exceptions.PackageFamilyNotFoundError):
+            self._solve(["missing_variant_package"], [])
+
+        config.override("error_on_missing_variant_packages", False)
+        self._solve(["missing_variant_package"], ["nada[]", "missing_variant_package-1[1]"])
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()