Download, install, or update MATLAB

• Overview
• Download and install MATLAB
• Update your MATLAB license

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Overview

Indiana University provides access to a campus-wide Total Academic Headcount (TAH) license for students, faculty, and staff. New users can download, install, and activate MATLAB from MathWorks.

Download and install MATLAB

Whether you are a new or existing MATLAB user, when you are ready to download and install MATLAB, follow the steps below.

1. Go to MathWorks and create an account using your IU email address.
2. Go to the MathWorks download page.
3. Click Download for the current release; the release name typically follows the format R<year>a or R<year>b.
4. Choose the appropriate installer for your operating system.
5. Locate the downloaded installer file. It should be in the default download folder, unless you specified another location. The name of the installer file depends on your operating system:
   • Windows: matlab_<release>_win64.exe
   • macOS: matlab_<release>_maci64.zip
   • Linux: matlab_linux_<release>.tgz

   In the above examples, <release> represents the release number.

6. Start the installer:
   • Windows: Double-click the installer file you downloaded to run the Windows Self-Extractor.
   • macOS: Double-click the installer file you downloaded. This will extract the files and create another folder called matlab_<release>_maci64, where <release> represents the release number. Inside this folder, double-click InstallForMacOSX to start the installer.
   • Linux: Depending on what Linux distribution you are using, move the file to either /usr/local/src or /opt (it does not matter which you choose), and then do the following steps in a terminal window to start the installation process:
     1. cd /usr/local/src (or cd /opt)
     2. sudo tar xf matlab_linux_<release>.tgz
     3. cd MATHWORKS_<release>
     4. sudo ./install
7. In the MathWorks installer, select Log in with a MathWorks Account and follow the online instructions.
8. When prompted, select the license you want to use.
9. Select the products you want to download and install.
10. After downloading and installing your products, keep Activate MATLAB selected and click Next.

Update your MATLAB license

The university renews the MATLAB TAH license each July; around this time your MATLAB application will begin displaying expiration warnings. To continue using MATLAB, you can either download and install the newest version (follow steps 5-12 above), or use the MATLAB activation client to update your license for the installed version.

To update your license:

1. Launch the activation client:
   • If MATLAB is currently activated, open the application, go to the Home tab, click Help (in the "Resources" section), mouse-over Licensing, and then click Activate Software.
   • If you can't open MATLAB (for example, because your license is expired or otherwise unusable), launch the activation client manually; its location varies by operating system:
     • Windows: The activation client is located here:

       C:\Program Files\Matlab\R20XXx\bin\winXX\activate_Matlab.exe

     • macOS: In the Finder, go to Applications, right-click or Cmd-click the MATLAB icon (for example, MATLAB_R2015b), select Show Package Contents, and then open Activate.app.
     • Linux: The activation client is located here:

       /usr/local/Matlab/R20XXx/bin/activate_Matlab.sh

2. In the activation client, select Activate automatically using the Internet.
3. Log into your MathWorks account.
4. From the list of licenses, select the license you want to activate.
5. Confirm the activation information.
6. To complete the activation, click Finish.