Visual Studio 2012 Install Fails: Program Compatibility Mode is on

Visual Studio-2012InstallationWindows 8.1

Visual Studio-2012 Problem Overview


I'm trying to install Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Desktop and every time I run the installer I get this error: > "Windows Program Compatibility mode is on. Turn it off and then try setup again."

I checked the file properties and compatibility mode was off. Googling found that changing the name to "vs_premium.exe" or "vs_ultimate.exe" or changing the registry keys might help, but the name changes had no effect, and there were no registry keys to delete. I have restarted my machine several times to no avail.

Changing to Visual Studio 2013 is not an option for me, as my work computer has Visual Studio 2012 on it which they will not update to 2013, and I need to work on my project on both computers.

The computer I am using has a Windows 8.1 HP Pavilion g6. I have installed Visual Studio 2013 for Windows Desktop, Web, and Windows, as well as the 30-day trial for Professional (which has recently expired). I have also installed Visual Studio 2012 for Windows Phone but I have not used it yet.

Visual Studio-2012 Solutions


Solution 1 - Visual Studio-2012

Previous posts are correct in that compatibility mode appears to be based entirely on file names. There is a simple method for determining precisely which name Windows expects:

Right-click the file, select Properties and navigate to the Details tab. There should be an entry labelled "Original filename". Simply rename the file accordingly and it should run happily.

Screenshot:

Solution 2 - Visual Studio-2012

If you downloaded Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2013 at the same time and one was renamed with a "(0)" suffix (just as I did) then change the installer to the original name will probably fix it, because "somehow compatibility checking is based on file naming"

Solution 3 - Visual Studio-2012

I just have to Rename the setup name. I rename the setup file to vs_ultimate and it worked.

Solution 4 - Visual Studio-2012

In case you mounted it, first extract the content before you install. it worked for me.

Had the same issue installing vs_ultimate on Windows 10, It tells me to turn compatibility mode off which I didn't know to do. After reading all the solutions above without success, I was able to solve it on my own.

I mounted the .iso before installing which was giving me problem, but later as I extracted it into a desktop folder, it installed fine.

Solution 5 - Visual Studio-2012

I couldn't find a solution, but I could find a workaround. I downloaded the offline installer (ISO) and ran that instead. It's not a solution, but it should work in this situation.

Solution 6 - Visual Studio-2012

I ran into this problem and the solution for me was to rename the file back to its original name. I had downloaded it as "vs2012sdk_full.exe" but the original name was "vssdk_full.exe". When I ran it as "vs2012sdk_full.exe" I got the compatibility mode error. Once I renamed it back to the original "vssdk_full.exe" it worked.

Solution 7 - Visual Studio-2012

  1. Open The Run (Win+R) And type Services.msc.
    Found Program Compatibility Assistant Service Then Disable Service and Stop it.

  2. Open the Run (Win+R) And Type Gpedit.msc.
    User configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Windows Components-->Application Compatibility
    And check Enable button then restart system.

Solution 8 - Visual Studio-2012

Run as administrator. And for my 2013 installer I renamed it to be vs_professional.exe

And it worked.

Solution 9 - Visual Studio-2012

In a round about way I discovered the problem on my system. Check the properties of the installer. Mine was blocked because it was downloaded from another system. Click unblock. Voila! If you can't find the location of the installer, run it again. When it fails, leave it running. Open task manager, right click the installer, then open file location. This will take you to the folder containing your installer.

Solution 10 - Visual Studio-2012

mount the ISO file and run the setup as a from the disk.

Solution 11 - Visual Studio-2012

I had the same issue, my solution was to run it in administrator mode and it seemed to work just fine.

Solution 12 - Visual Studio-2012

Run as Administrator worked for me.

Solution 13 - Visual Studio-2012

I had the same problem. I had run the installer from an ISO, reading from the DVD image.

The solution was to simply take the ISO and uncompress it as a .RAR into some folder, and everything worked.

Solution 14 - Visual Studio-2012

This is the solution:

  • Right Click on Visual Studio Setup Icon

  • Select Properties

  • Open Compatibility Tab

  • Check Run This Program In Compatibility Mode

  • Select Your Windows Version (ex:Windows 8)

  • Finally Click OK And Install Your Program Again

Attributions

All content for this solution is sourced from the original question on Stackoverflow.

The content on this page is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestioneinsteinsciView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Visual Studio-2012CJPNView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Visual Studio-2012ohwView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Visual Studio-2012hossein chakerView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Visual Studio-2012boluviView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Visual Studio-2012einsteinsciView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Visual Studio-2012Jack A.View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Visual Studio-2012Mr.DaniView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Visual Studio-2012BeachMilesView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Visual Studio-2012Mike BennettView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Visual Studio-2012BallinView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Visual Studio-2012DespairView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 12 - Visual Studio-2012f0rzaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 13 - Visual Studio-2012Sebastian DiazView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 14 - Visual Studio-2012mehdi amirsardariView Answer on Stackoverflow