1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

If you were not logged in to your MathWorks Account during installation, or you started the
activation application independently, you must choose whether to activate automatically or
manually. If you are connected to the Internet, leave the Activate automatically using the
Internet (recommended) option selected. Activating immediately after installation is the
quickest way to start using MATLAB.

If you are not connected to the Internet, select Activate manually without the Internet. If you
select this option, you need a License File to activate manually. Your License File identifies the
products you can run. Contact the Administrator of the license to get the file if you do not already have
it.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

Specify a Proxy Server

Note: On Windows systems, the activation application uses your system proxy settings by default.

If your Internet connection requires a proxy server, click the Connection Settings button. You can
enter the server name and port information in the Proxy Settings dialog box, and access other
activation options. MathWorks supports several types of proxy configurations: Basic authentication
and Digest authentication.

Step 3: Log in to Your MathWorks Account

Note: If you continued with activation immediately after installation, and you logged in to your
account during installation, the activation application skips this step.

Enter the email address and password of your MathWorks Account and click Next. The activation
application contacts MathWorks to retrieve the licenses associated with your account.

If you do not have a MathWorks Account, select the I need to create an Account
(requires an Activation Key) option and click Next.

If you already have a License File, select the Enter the full path to your license file, including
the file name option, specify the complete path to the file, and click Next. Your License File
identifies the products you can run. Contact the administrator of your license to obtain this License
File. After specifying the License File, the activation application skips all the subsequent steps in the
process and goes directly to the Activation Complete dialog box.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

Create a MathWorks Account

To create an account, enter your email address, first name, last name, and password. You must also
provide an Activation Key. A newly created account does not have any licenses associated with it. The
Activation Key identifies the license you want to activate.

Note: Entering dashes or spaces for the Activation Key is optional.

The administrator contact on the license can retrieve the key by visiting the License Center at the
MathWorks website. If you are activating MATLAB student-use software, your product package
includes the Activation Key.

Click Next to create your account.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

Note: When you create a new MathWorks Account, you must verify your email address before you
can proceed with activation. Before you click Next in the Email Verification Required dialog box, go
to your email program, open the message from MathWorks, and click the verification link. Then
return to this dialog box and click Next.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

Step 4: Select the License

Note: If you continued with activation immediately after installation, the activation application
assumes you want to activate the license you just installed and skips this step. Likewise, if you created
an account in the previous step and specified an Activation Key, the activation application skips this
step.

Select a license from the list of licenses associated with your MathWorks Account and click Next.
The list contains the following information about the licenses:

If you want to activate products on a license that is not associated with your MathWorks
Account, select the Enter an Activation Key for a license not listed option, enter
an Activation Key, and click Next. An Activation Key is the unique code that identifies a license. You
can use the key to activate a license or associate a license with your account. Ask the administrator of
the license for the Activation Key.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

Note: Entering dashes or spaces for the Activation Key is optional.

If you are activating MATLAB student-use software, your product package includes the
Activation Key.

Step 5: Specify the User Name

Note: The activation application skips this step when the license is a Designated
Computer License.

If you selected an Individual License, you must specify the operating system user name of the person
who will use the software. The Individual License limits use of the software
to a particular user on a particular computer. MathWorks uses the operating sytem user name to
identify this person. The operating system user name is the ID through which
a user gains access to a computer. This ID is also known as the computer login name. To use
MathWorks software, you must be logged into the computer as the user name that you specify.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

By default, the activation application fills in the user name of the person running the activation
application. To accept this default, click Next. If you used your administrator account to install the
software but will use another account to access the software, you can specify that user name here,
then click Next.

Note: The option to activate a license for someone else is not available for student-use software.

Step 6: Confirm Your Activation Information

If all the information displayed is correct, click Confirm.

Note: Depending on the method of installation that you use and your operating system, the
confirmation information can vary from the example shown here.

To activate an installation, MathWorks creates a License File that is locked to the computer,
and to a particular user if you have activated an Individual License, and

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Activate an Installation Using a MathWorks Account

copies this License File onto your computer. This License File enables you to run MathWorks
products on your computer. MathWorks also keeps a record of the activation in MathWorks systems.

Step 7: Complete the Activation

After activating your installation, click Finish to exit the activation process.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Install Products with a File Installation Key

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Install Products with a File Installation Key

Install Products with a File Installation Key

In this section...
“Before You Install” on page 1-35
“Step 1: Start the Installer” on page 1-37
“Step 2: Install With a File Installation Key” on page 1-39 “Step 3:
Review the License Agreement” on page 1-39 “Step 4: Specify the
File Installation Key” on page 1-39 “Step 5: Specify the
Installation Folder” on page 1-41 “Step 6: Specify Products to
Install” on page 1-42
“Step 7: Specify Installation Options” on page 1-43 “Step
8: Confirm Your Choices” on page 1-45
“Step 9: Complete the Installation” on page 1-46

Before You Install

Before you run the installer:

• Ensure that the product files, including the MATLAB installer, are available in an accessible
location, for example, in the default Downloads folder on your computer, a network share, or on
DVDs. If the product files are located in a folder other than the default Downloads folder on your
computer, the installer file must be located in the same folder as the product files.

MATLAB student-use software does not include DVDs. Connect to MathWorks to download
and install products.
• Have your File Installation Key and License File available. You need both these items to perform an
off-network installation and activation.

The File Installation Key identifies the products you can install. The License File activates the
installation, identifying which products you can run. The administrator of the license can retrieve
the File Installation Key and License File by visiting the License Center at the MathWorks
website.
• Make sure that you have the correct permissions to install software. If you have questions
about this, ask your system administrator.

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Note: While you use an administrator account or root privileges to install the software, you
typically do not want to activate the software for an administrative user account. Specify the
non-privileged account that will use the software when you activate it. Running MATLAB as
a user with administrator privileges or root privileges is not recommended.

• Windows Systems — Get the name and password of the administrator account on your
computer. The installer modifies the system registry during installation.
• Linux Systems — Get the root password. You can install MATLAB software without
superuser privileges, however, it limits certain installation options. For example, if you want
to set up symbolic links to the matlab command, install product files in a protected folder,
or edit the system boot script, you must have superuser status.
• Mac OS X Systems — Get the name and password of an administrator account on your
computer. The administrator account is the user account you set up when you configured your
Mac OS X system; this is not your MathWorks Account. During installation, you must enter
this name and password in the Authenticate dialog box, shown below.

• Consider disabling virus-checking software and Internet security applications on your system for the
duration of the installation process. These applications can slow down the installation process or
cause it to appear unresponsive or to hang.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Install Products with a File Installation Key

If you have an Internet connection, follow the instructions in “Install Products Using a MathWorks
Account” on page 1-3. MathWorks recommends installing and activating using an Internet
connection.

You can use this procedure to install one of the standalone or network license options. If you use this
with a network license option, you must specify the License File path and choose whether to
configure the license manager. See “Install MathWorks Software on Client Systems” on page 4-41
for more information about these additional steps.

Step 1: Start the Installer

Note: Verify that the folder containing the product files includes the installer file for your platform
in the root of the folder (setup.exe for Windows, install for Linux, and InstallForMacOSX for Mac
OS X) and an archives subfolder. If the archives subfolder contains less than 3 files, you might be
missing required files. Ask your administrator to download the files again using the procedure in
“Download Products Without Installation” on page 3-16.

1 Copy the products files (including the installer file) to your computer or an accessible location
(for example, DVDs, USB drive, or network share).
2 Start the installer. The method you use to start the installer depends on your platform and
whether you are accessing previously downloaded product files or are using DVDs.

• Windows

• Previously downloaded product files — If you or an administrator downloaded the

product files previously and copied the product files to your computer, a network share,
or to media, go to the top level of the folder where the product files are located and click
setup.exe.
• DVD installation — Insert DVD 1 into the DVD drive connected to your system.
The installer usually starts automatically. Insert DVD 2 when the installer prompts
you for the second disc.
• Mac OS X

• DVD installation — Insert DVD 1 into the DVD drive connected to your system. When
the DVD icon appears on the desktop, double-click the icon to

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Install Products with a File Installation Key

display the DVD contents, and then double-click the InstallForMacOSX icon to begin the
installation.

Insert DVD 2 when the installer prompts you for the second disc.
• Previously downloaded product files — If you or an administrator downloaded the
product files and copied the extracted files to your computer, a network share, or to media,
go to the top level of the folder where the product files are located and double-click the
InstallForMacOSX icon to begin the installation.
• Linux

• Previously downloaded product files — If you or an administrator downloaded the

product files and copied the extracted files to your computer, a network share, or to media,
go to the top level of the folder where the product files are located and execute the installer
command:

./install
• DVD installation — Insert DVD 1 into the DVD drive connected to your system
and execute this command:

/path_to_dvd/install &

Note: Do not run the installation from inside the DVD root. Start the installation
from a directory outside the DVD root.

Depending on how your system is configured, you might have to mount

the DVD first. Make sure you mount it with execute permissions, as in the following
example. Note that the name of the DVD drive might be different on your system.

mount -o exec /media/cdrom0

Insert DVD 2 when the installer prompts you for the second disc.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Install Products with a File Installation Key

Step 2: Install With a File Installation Key

If you do not have an Internet connection, but have access to product files on your computer, a network
share, or DVDs, select the Use a File Installation Key option and click Next.

Step 3: Review the License Agreement

Review the software license agreement and, if you agree with the terms, select Yes and click Next.

Step 4: Specify the File Installation Key

If you do not have an Internet connection, and choose to install manually, the installer displays the
File Installation Key dialog box. A File Installation Key identifies the products you can install.

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1 Installation and Activation Procedures Install Products with a File Installation Key

If you have the key, select the I have the File Installation Key for my license option, enter the
File Installation Key, and click Next. The administrator contact on a license
can retrieve the File Installation Key from the License Center at the MathWorks website.

If you do not have the key, select the I do not have the File Installation Key option and click
Next. The installer provides you with the information you need to get a key.

If You Do Not Have the File Installation Key

The Installation and Activation Next Steps dialog box contains the information you need to retrieve
your File Installation Key from the License Center at the MathWorks website. This information
includes:

• Host ID
• Release number (for example, R2016b)
• Operating system user name (Note that user names are case-sensitive in activation.)

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