I actually worked on this yesterday, and I'm probably going to use XP Embedded instead, because
a) I surprisingly actually have a runtime license for it, so you don't have to sit through the FBA preparing the OS to avoid the evaluation time bomb
b) compiling software for XP is much easier than compiling software for NT 4
I also now understand why Windows 10 is built from individual components with dependencies now - it's literally what they've done for Embedded since the early days, except instead of untangling things after the fact, they keep things compartmentalized from the get go.
This also makes odd dependencies more obvious, like how in XP Embedded adding a serial device driver adds modem support, which adds a ton of GUI stuff
(The embedded versions have two licenses, one for the tooling, which I have access to through work's Visual Studio subscription, and the runtime one, which is supposed to be specific to a product, and thus requires you to buy it separately - the runtime serial can be dumped from any image, so you can just get it from a thin client of the appropriate era)