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I had VS2010 running while installing developer tools for Windows Phone 7, so I had to exit setup, close VS2010, and rerun vm_web.exe. But it gave following error:

Visual Studio setup cannot run in compatibility mode. For more information see the ‘Installing’ section in the Visual Studio Readme at "http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143397".

After searching the Internet and tried a few things, what worked for me is to uncheck “Run this program in compatibility mode” in vm_web.exe’s Properties dialog:

If the checkbox is checked and grayed out, click “Change settings for all users” button at the bottom of the dialog, and then uncheck “Run this program in compatibility mode” in the popped up “Compatibility for all users” dialog:

After that, rerun vm_web.exe and it should succeed.

Below is relevant section in Visual Studio readme at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143397. I removed the registry entry for vm_web.exe and VS2010’s setup.exe, but not sure whether it helped or not.

2.1.10 Visual Studio Setup cannot be run in Program Compatibility Mode

Visual Studio 2010 and/or the .NET Framework 4 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 the user to reinstall by using the recommended setting (program compatibility mode).

To resolve this issue:

Visual Studio Setup cannot run in program compatibility mode.  Ensure that the compatibility mode setting is not enabled system-wide or for the Visual Studio Setup application.

Check the manual setting

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

1. On the Visual Studio Setup media, locate setup.exe.
2. Right-click setup.exe and then click Properties.
3. On the Compatibility tab, clear "Run this program in compatibility mode for" and then then click OK.

Check Program Compatibility Assistant registry settings

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

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Browse to each of the following keys and delete any value that refers to setup.exe in the Visual Studio install path:
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Persisted
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

Rerun Visual Studio Setup

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Browse to Visual Studio setup.exe.
3. Double-click setup.exe to run Visual Studio Setup.

Related KB Article

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931709

Another Workaround:

Instead of executing the <DVD ROOT>\setup.exe, execute <DVD ROOT>\setup\setup.exe