Sitecore Install Assistant 9.3 misses CreatePaths task execution and unable to create certificates folder

Here is one more reason why people often use Sitecore Install Framework (SIF) instead of Sitecore Install Assistant (SIA). And, I hear you: all those Docker enthusiasts  -

Anyway, recently as part of installing Sitecore 9.3 (using Sitecore Install Assistant) in a brand new machine, came across this error after installing all prerequisites -

Unfortunately, the log didn't give enough info apart from what I saw on the screen. The windows log failed me too. As anyone reading the message, the only inference I could make is that the client certificate couldn't be created. As I perused the tasks/variables in createcert.json, I found that the path where the certificates are supposed to be created is  the c:\certificates folder. 

When I checked the file system, I couldn't find the certificates folder either -

Once I manually created the certificates folder under c: and re-tried the installation with SIA, the install was successful -

When I went back and analysed the createcert.json, I could find the CreatePaths task responsible for creating the certificates path present but SIA probably missed calling the task for some reason -

Unrelenting, I ran Sitecore Complete Install Assistant (SCIA) and decided to test the same scenario using the SIF installer, I could find the CreatePaths getting invoked and the certificates folder created automatically.

Note that this issue is fixed in SIA that is part of Sitecore 10 Update-1 (10.0.1) - Proof of the fact that Sitecore is taking all product feedback seriously.