How to fix pandoc (error 1) in rmarkdown for html output?

Question

I'm using pandoc version 2.18 and R version 4.1.3. I'm using rmarkdown to knit a document into an html format, but repeatedly receive the following error:

pandoc.exe: \\: openBinaryFile: invalid argument (Invalid argument)
Error: pandoc document conversion failed with error 1
Execution halted

I used the following code. HOWEVER, when I change the output type to word_document, it runs without any problem.

---
title: "Test_outputtype"
output: 
  html_document
---

```{r setup, include=FALSE}```

### ggplot2

```{r}
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(mpg, aes(displ, hwy)) +
  geom_point() + geom_smooth()```

I saw a couple of similar problems with pandoc error 1 that were resolved by changing the working directory to the c drive but I've already done that. This problem extends to other packages that rely on pandoc, such as flexdashboard.

Any ideas for solutions or workarounds would be greatly appreciated!