Why does MATLAB fail to install with a "'std::runtime_error' what(): Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application" error on Linux?

When I try to install MATLAB it fails with the following error:

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
  what(): Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application
Aborted

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This error message is typically caused by a library dependency error.

To resolve this issue, please remove the following libraries from the MathWorks Installation files, specifically the /bin/glnxa64 directory:

libcrypto.so.1.1

libssl.so.1.1

[Da Ma]

This is very helpful, thank you!

Just want to report that, on my CentOS 8, this only works with the user-level installation. i.e. root install using `sudo ./install` will still yield the same error

[Khushal Sharma]

I am still facing the issue after removal of both files. Tried with only user-level installation, same results.

Any idea what I can do?

$ ./install
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
  what():  Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application
Aborted (core dumped)

[Tianjiao Ding]

1. Be sure to delete not only the two above indicated files, but also their symbolic links in the same directory.
2. Try installing by directly running "install_unix_legacy" or "install_unix". For me, "install_unix_legacy" works but the other one does not.
3. I am using root-level installation. For some reasons I can only do everything as root.

[Thien Vy Nguyen]

You have to do it as root because you're creating folder in /usr/local. If you specify different location then it won't be necessary.

[Khushal Sharma]

@Tianjiao Ding what are the symbolic links?

[Khushal Sharma]

I did installed and now I am getting licensing error

$ matlab
MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering.
License checkout failed.
License Manager Error -9
Your username does not match the username in the license file. 
To run on this computer, you must run the Activation client to reactivate your license.

Troubleshoot this issue by visiting: 
https://www.mathworks.com/support/lme/R2020a/9

Diagnostic Information:
Feature: MATLAB 
License path: /home/noob/.matlab/R2020a_licenses:/usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/licenses/license.dat:/usr/local/MATLAB/R
2020a/licenses/license_noob-hppavilionnotebook_1073736_R2020a.lic 
Licensing error: -9,57.

I did reactivated my licence but I am still getting the same error.

[Swaggerino Gabberino]

Does not solve anything.

After hours of trying to install this s**t, I'm out. My uni pays tons of money and this is the support we get. Byebye Matlab, was not nice working with you.

Literally every piece of FOSS I've ever used had better support. Wow.

[Colin Fraser]

If you are still experiencing this issue, please create a service request below.

https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

-Colin Fraser

[norbert]

Removing these two files didn't solve the problem for me. I am trying to install R2020b on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and I still get:

  > sudo ./install
  terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
    what():  Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application
  Abort

[norbert]

Solution by Jeffrey Daniels below was successful.

[Anand Singh]

Removing these two files (libcrypto.so.1.1, libssl.so.1.1) worked for me on fedora 32

[Eric Condamine]

Removing these two files (libcrypto.so.1.1, libssl.so.1.1) worked for me too on fedora 32

Answer 2

[Tianjiao Ding]

In fact this solution seems to work so well that I would like to make it an answer rather than a comment to help those who suffer from this problem. I am using ssh to connect a remote machine, and on the remote machine I am root.

1. Turn on X11-forwarding to have remote display. This is a must if you do not want to install without GUI (where I tried for 15 mins to look for the so-called "File installation key" and gave up). Then ssh -Y or ssh -X to the remote machine.
2. Install by directly running "install_unix_legacy". For me it is located at MATLAB2020a/bin/glnxa64/install_unix_legacy, but it may be different for you if you are using different architectures/operating systems.
3. If 2 does not work, try runing "install_unix".
4. Now a window for installation should pop up. Cheers!

I did not delete any of the files mentioned by the other answers. If you want to try, remember to delete not only the indicated files, but also their symbolic links in the same directory.

[Khushal Sharma]

what are the symbolic links?

[Khushal Sharma]

the past issue is solved and I have installed. but now i am getting this error.

https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/540707-why-does-matlab-fail-to-install-with-a-std-runtime_error-what-unable-to-launch-the-matlabwind#comment_959863

[Joshua Detwiler]

Installing 2020a on Arch Linux + i3. I had to use the install_unix_legacy script because neither of the others worked for me. Thanks for pointing out that it exists.

[ALPHA SOKO]

install_unix_legacy worked for me on Arch Linux. Thanks

[Tianjiao Ding]

You guys are amazing for using Arch Linux (I heard many stories from my colleagues and decided to make my life easier...). One thing I have not resolved yet: I run Matlab on a remote Ubuntu server, and use X11 forwarding to have a GUI on my local machine. However, Matlab always crashes several seconds after startup. Have you in any possibility also faced that issue?

[Colin Fraser]

If you are still experiencing this issue, please create a service request below.

https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

-Colin Fraser

[Bas]

It doesn't work anymore. Mathwork, PLEASE support Arch! Not everybody wants to use Debian-base with 1 year old software, some of us have new hardware, like to game or need the latests software for another reason. Arch is one of the most popular distributions and your product is broken for Arch. Just give clear instructions for specifically Arch: dependencies, path at which you extract it, which files to add/remove...

[Colin Fraser]

If you are still experiencing this issue, please create a service request below.

https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

-Colin Fraser

[Eva Meirovitch]

Thanks a bunch mate,

NOV 2020 - it still definitely works and saved my a**

[Joshua Detwiler]

"However, Matlab always crashes several seconds after startup"

I ran into this problem a couple times. It happened whenever I was running Matlab using my desktop entry (through dmenu). Anyway, if I ran Matlab at the command line, I'd get an actual error, telling me that Matlab isn't activated. I'd rerun the activation script in MATLAB/R20xxc/bin/activate_matlab.sh, and all would be well again. This eventually stopped happening when I updated from R2020a to R2020b.

Without knowing what the actual error is, I'm afraid I can't help any more.

[Erick Bezerra]

I had the same error, tried almost everything from here, and the right one was the "sudo ./install_unix_legacy"

Matlab R2020a

Ubuntu 20.10

Answer 3

[Jeffrey Daniels]

I had this same problem. I didn't need to use 'install_unix_legacy' or remove any libraries. This is how I fixed it:

Ensure that you have permission to read and execute in the folder you are running ./install from, because the installation program needs to stat files in that folder structure; /home/[user]/MatlabR2020b_Linux_Install/bin/glnxa64/cef_locales/ to be specific, among others.

$ chmod 755 -R /home/[user]/MatlabR2020b_Linux_Install/

$ sudo ~/MatlabR2020b_Linux_Install/install

[norbert]

Great, thanks! That solved my problem, and the installation of R2020b worked like a charm on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

[Jeffrey Daniels]

I am very happy to be of service!

[George Navarro]

This worked perfectly for me. Thank you!

Answer 4

[Yu Jiang]

I'm also having this problem, on ubuntu 20.10, and removing libcrypto.so.1.1 and libssl.so.1.1 did not resolve the problem. I'm still getting the same error

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
  what():  Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application
Aborted (core dumped)

[Yu Jiang]

well the install_unix_legacy script worked.

[Colin Fraser]

Using the legacy installer is not a qualified workflow. If you are experiencing any issues installing MATLAB and the steps outlined in the article above do not help, please contact MathWorks Install Support https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/contact_us.html.

-Colin Fraser

Answer 5

[RASHAD AHMED]

The default installer required some dependencies not found on a vanilla minimal RHEL based distro. Neither the installer nor the legacy installer opened correctly. The default installer successfully ran after installing the following packages:

yum install libX11 libXcomposite libXcursor libXdamage libXext libXfixes libXft libXi libXrandr libXrender libXScrnSaver libXt libXtst libXxf86vm alsa-lib atk cairo cups-libs fontconfig GConf2 gtk2 gdk-pixbuf2 gnome-vfs2 gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1 pango libsndfile libxcb libxslt

These packages were the requirements for MCR, but it helped resolve the installation for default MatLab (R2020b) nonetheless. https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/358052-is-there-a-list-of-matlab-runtime-dependencies

[Laura Morris]

I'm running a fresh install of RHEL 8 and MATLAB R2020b wouldn't install. Error exactly as in the title. I tried removing libcrypto.so.1.1 and libssl.so.1.1 (didn't work). I tried the Jeffrey Daniels solution (also didn't work). I tried Rashad Ahmed's package installation, and that's where I found a problem. Everything was already installed EXCEPT "gnome-vfs2", which is "not included" in RHEL 8 according to Red Hat documentation. So then I tried Tianjiao Ding's "install_unix_legacy" method. THAT WORKED! This all started because I was trying to test a stand alone app being created by a coworker (which uses Runtime R2020a). I couldn't get the app to start. But that may be another issue. This only fixed the MATLAB installation issue.