This is a Windows 8.1 x64 deployment using MDT 2013.
Yesterday, I started getting the error "Windows cold not parse or process unattend answer file. [C:\windows\Panther\unattend.xml] for pass [oobeSystem]. The answer file is invalid." Some searching found that there is usually a reference to the [Microsoft - Windows - Shell -Setup] component, but my error doesn't indicate that. I Shift+F10'd and searched the Panther directory which had the folders "actionqueue", "setup.exe", "Unattend" and "UnattendGC", all of which were empty. C:\MININT also had folders which were empty, as were the logs in %windir%\temp.
This is happening for for both images I'm trying to deploy.
My Bootstrap.ini
[Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
DeployRoot=\\server\deploymentshare$
CS.ini
[Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
OSInstall=Y
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerBackup=YES
SkipBitLocker=YES
EventService=http://BGWDS:9800