How do I activate MATLAB or other MathWorks Products?

How do I activate MATLAB?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

When installing MATLAB or other MathWorks Products, MATLAB automatically activates itself either during installation (R2020a and newer) or after the installation (R2019b and older). The activation client does not need to be launched manually after installation nor will it appear for R2020a and newer.

However, it may be necessary to activate MATLAB manually. There are two ways to activate MATLAB:

• Automatically activating using the activation client
• Manually activating through the MathWorks License Center

Automatically activating using the activation client

It is sometimes necessary to activate an instance of MATLAB which is already installed. For example, you may need to update your license, or you may need to change the license that MATLAB is using.

To activate an instance of MATLAB which is already installed on an online machine, launch the MathWorks activation client.

In order to launch the Activation Client you will need Administrator permissions on the computer, if you do not have them you must contact your IT department for assistance.

If you can launch MATLAB:

If MATLAB is currently activated and able to launch, you can launch the MathWorks activation client from the MATLAB help menu:

1. In the "Resources" section of the toolstrip, open the "Help" menu.
2. Hover over the "Licenses" submenu.
3. Click "Activate software." This will launch the MathWorks activation client.

If MATLAB will not launch

If you have an expired or otherwise unusable license, MATLAB may not be able to launch. In this case, you will need to launch the MATLAB activation client directly. The location of the MathWorks activation client depends on your Operating System and MATLAB release.

If you are activating an Individual license:

Individual licenses require the license to be activated to the end users computer login name. Before activating obtain your login name using the guide below.

How do I find my username in order to install or activate my license?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/96800

Activating MATLAB R2022b and newer:

Windows

The activation client is located below. You will need to replace R20XXx with your release of MATLAB, such as R2024a.

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20XXx\bin\win64\MathWorksProductAuthorizer.exe

macOS

1. Open Finder.
2. Go to "Applications".
3. Right-click or control-click on the MATLAB application icon. (e.g. MATLAB_R2024a.app)
4. Click on "Show Package Contents".
5. Open the folder "bin", then "maci64" or "maca64".
6. Find MathWorksProductAuthorizer and then double-click it to launch it.

Linux

The activation client is located here: You will need to replace R20XXx with your release of MATLAB, such as R2024a.

/usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx/bin/glnxa64/MathWorksProductAuthorizer.sh

Once you have launched the MathWorks activation client:

1. Log into your MathWorks account
2. Select the license from the list of licenses you would like to activate
3. Confirm the activation information
   • (Individual License Only) Check the login name field on this screen and ensure it is correct.
4. Click "finish" to complete the activation process.

Activating MATLAB R2022a and older:

Windows

The activation client is located here:

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20XXx\bin\win64\activate_matlab.exe 

macOS

1. Open Finder.
2. Go to "Applications".
3. Right-click or control-click on the MATLAB application icon. (e.g. MATLAB_R2022b.app)
4. Click on "Show Package Contents".
5. Open "Activate.app".

Linux

The activation client is located here:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx/bin/activate_matlab.sh

Once you have launched the MathWorks activation client:

1. Select "Activate automatically using the internet."
2. Log into your MathWorks account
3. Select the license from the list of licenses you would like to activate
4. Confirm the activation information
   • (Individual License Only) Check the login name field on this screen and ensure it is correct.
5. Click "finish" to complete the activation process.

Manually activating through the MathWorks License Center

If you are on an offline machine, it may be necessary to activate the license through the MathWorks License Center.

Instructions on how to activate MATLAB via the license center are detailed in the article below:

How do I activate MATLAB without an internet connection?

 

Still unable to activate?

A video walkthrough on how to install and activate an individual license can be found below:

https://www.mathworks.com/videos/install-an-individual-license-1600161913134.html

If you are continuously prompted to activate MATLAB every time you launch it, please see this article:

Why am I continuously prompted to activate when I try to launch MATLAB?

If you are unable to activate MATLAB after following the instructions in this article, please contact MathWorks support:

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