Visual Studio and .NET Framework do not support installing via app compat modes.

aaronru — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:01:00 GMT

Symptoms

Visual Studio 2010 and/or .NET Framework 4.0 setup fails with 1603 error code or blocks running in Program Compatibility Mode.

Windows Program Compatibility Assistant indicates that Visual Studio setup might not have installed correctly and prompts to reinstall using recommended setting (program compatibility mode).

Workaround

Visual Studio setup cannot run in program compatibility mode. Please ensure compatibility mode setting is not enabled system wide or for the Visual Studio setup application.

Check manual setting

Compatibility mode could have been set manually through the Compatibility tab on the executable file properties.

1. Browse to Visual Studio setup media, where you intend to run setup.exe.

2. Right-click setup.exe and select Properties.

3. On the Compatibility tab, clear the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" check box and then click OK.

Check Program Compatibility Assistant registry settings

Compatibility mode could have been set by Program Compatibility Assistant on previous failed or canceled attempts to run Visual Studio setup.exe.

1. Select Run from the Windows Start menu.

2. Type regedit, and then click OK button.

3. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Persisted registry key.

4. Delete any value that refers to setup.exe in the location you are installing Visual Studio.

Re-launch Visual Setup

1. Open Windows Explorer.

2. Browse to Visual Studio setup.exe.

3. Double-click setup.exe to run Visual Studio setup.

Uninstalling the Framework

aaronru — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:54:00 GMT

I've been noticing that quite a few of you are having issues uninstalling a framework when partially installed or when it has been corrupted.

If you can get to the framework origininal installation package then that would be very helpful. A central location to get these downloads would be: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx

Then after you've got the installation package on your machine, execute it. what happens is that the installation will go into what is known as the maintenance mode. It will give you the option to repair and uninstall the framework.

Repairing and then uninstalling the framework in this manner normally will fix most of the issues that we've seend.

For those of you who are using 3.0, we've released a 3.0 prerelease clean up tool, which should help you put your machine into a clean state.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AAE7FC63-D405-4E13-909F-E85AA9E66146&displaylang=en