For critical equipment, there's "lots of things that are not Windows" (1. too many moving parts is not a good thing, as demonstrated, 2. an office OS is not a g

For critical equipment, there's "lots of things that are not Windows" (1. too many moving parts is not a good thing, as demonstrated, 2. an office OS is not a good fit for such equipment anyway); if you insist on this particular kind of pain, there's Windows Embedded. (Yes, it costs extra, but ought to be more resilient and shouldn't suffer from the tribulations inflicted upon consumer versions; of course, the "ought" is still at MS's discretion)