Matlab 2021a installer not working on WSL ubuntu 1804

I have extracted the installer files, then ran:

sudo chmod -R 777 matlab
cd matlab
sudo ./install

I have a VcXsrv server display open which displays the matlab startup logo then disappears and no installer window pops up.

Any ideas as to why this is happening?

Answer 1

[Harsh]

Hi,

From what I can gather, you are trying to install MATLAB on WSL ubuntu 18.04 and are unable to see any GUI for MATLAB’s installer after executing the “sudo ./install” command.

Please follow the following steps to view the MATLAB installer GUI:

1. Make sure you have installed vcxsrv from the following link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/
2. After successfully installing vcxsrv, launch vcxsrv and make sure to check the following options:

a. Select Mutiple windows option in display settings.

b. Select start no client in client startup setting.

c. Select clipboard, primary selection and native opengl options in Extra settings

d. Click on finish

Launch the Windows terminal, and execute the following commands:

wsl

(WSL should open after this)

DISPLAY=localhost:0.0.0.0 

(Sets the DISPLAY env variable to localhost : 0.0.0.0)

mv “path to matlab linux installer in your downloads folder” ~/ 

(moves matlab installer to home directory of WSL)

unzip matlab_R20XX_linux.zip 

(unzips the installer)

sudo ./install 

After entering the password, the installer’s GUI should be shown successfully.

I hope this helps, thanks!