MATLAB: MATLAB Crashes on Startup after showing “Starting Simulink” on the bottom left

MATLABsimulink

When I open MATLAB it crashes on startup. On Startup the MATLAB UI is displayed. In the bottom left it says "Initializing…" and then says "Starting Simulink". At this point MATLAB crashes.

Best Answer

By default, Simulink will not start when MATLAB starts up. Find any "startup.m" file in the userpath folder.

The user path folder is usually found at the following locations:

Windows® platforms — %USERPROFILE%/Documents/MATLAB.
Mac platforms — $home/Documents/MATLAB.
Linux® platforms — $home/Documents/MATLAB if $home/Documents exists.

Rename the "startup.m" file to "startup_old.m".

The startup file may have been created when installing third-party software. Deactivating this file by renaming it should resolve the crash.

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Am I getting startup warnings about R2018b folders when launching R2019a using R2019a’s default pathdef

Those folders, such as "\toolbox\matlab\connector2\file", all exist in the MATLAB R2018b installation and are included in the "pathdef.m" that is shipped with MATLAB R2018b. For example, if you pasted "C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2018b\toolbox\local\matlab\connector2\file" in the Windows File Explorer address bar, you would find that this folder exists on your computer.

Based on the warning messages, it appears that MATLAB is using a different "pathdef.m" file, such as the default 2018b one, instead of the "C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\local\pathdef.m" one that is returned by the "which -all pathdef.m" command. This may happen if your "userpath" is set to an invalid directory, such as the empty char array. To determine if this is the case, execute the following command in the Command Window:

>> userpath

If this command returns an "0×0 empty char array" instead of a folder that exists on your computer, this may be the cause of the issue and may indicate a corrupted preferences migration or install. To resolve this issue, you can do the following:

1) Start MATLAB.

2) Set the "userpath" to be a valid folder that exists on your computer. For example, you could set the "userpath" to be your Documents folder:

>> userpath("C:\Users\username\Documents");

For more information about setting the "userpath", please refer to this documentation page linked below:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/userpath.html

3) Restart MATLAB. The warning messages will no longer be printed.

4) If this does not resolve the issue, try regenerating your MATLAB preferences or doing a clean reinstall of MATLAB. For instructions on how to do both, please refer to the two links below:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/99625-how-do-i-regenerate-my-matlab-preferences

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/131519-how-do-i-perform-a-clean-installation-of-matlab-on-a-windows-system