Windows – bootcamp install error: “windows could not parse or process the unattend file for pass [specialize]

I get the following error when installing windows on a new partition using bootcamp assistant. I'm using a 16gb usb 2.0/3.0 drive with Win10_1709_English_x64 ISO downloaded from the Microsoft website.

Install appears to run smoothly from the Mac side. Then at a certain point, I receive the error seen here

Then, when I select OK, the system displays the second error message which leads to a restart loop that stops at this second message. I am unable to complete the install. The first time this happened, I wiped the bootcamp partition and started over. Same thing happened again.

I read somewhere that the unattend.xmlmay be the culprit, so I backed it up and deleted it thinking the installer would recreate the file. It didn't and the install still fails.

Here is the complete AutoUnattend.xml file found on the usb root.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
      <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <WillShowUI>Always</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
            </UserData>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DriverPaths>
                <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="1" wcm:action="add">
                    <Path>$WinPEDriver$</Path>
                </PathAndCredentials>
            </DriverPaths>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <RunSynchronous>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <Path>cmd /c "FOR %i IN (X F E D C) DO (FOR /F "tokens=6" %t in ('vol %i:') do (IF /I %t NEQ "" (IF EXIST %i:\BootCamp\BootCamp.xml Reg ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v AppsRoot /t REG_SZ /d %i /f )))"</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
            </RunSynchronous>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <FirstLogonCommands>
              <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                  <Description>BootCamp setup</Description>
                  <CommandLine>%AppsRoot%:\BootCamp\setup.exe</CommandLine>
                  <Order>1</Order>
                  <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput>
              </SynchronousCommand>
            </FirstLogonCommands>
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

Hopefully, someone can help me make sense of this. Thanks everyone. LMK if you need any more info.