MATLAB: Does the MATLAB installer fail to start on MacOS

MATLAB

Why does the MATLAB installer fail to start on MacOS? The installer provides no error message when it crashes, it just doesn't launch.

Best Answer

There are a few reasons the MATLAB installer might fail to run on MacOS without displaying an error message or creating a crash logs.
1. System Requirements
Ensure that the release of MATLAB that you are attempting to install is compatible with the version of MacOS that is installed on your Mac:
System Requirements for MATLAB: Current Release
System Requirements for MATLAB: Previous Releases
To determine the version of MacOS that you are running:
  • Click on the Apple Menu in the upper left-hand corner of the screen
  • Click "About This Mac"
You may be able to install an older release of MATLAB on a version of MacOS not explicitly supported by that release by installing some legacy components.
For R2013a and earlier, you need to have legacy Java 6 installed to install MATLAB:
Download Java for OS X 2015-001
If installing R2013a and earlier on MacOS 10.10 "Yosemite" or later, you may need to force the installer to use legacy Java 6:
How can I install MATLAB versions R2011a - R2013a on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later?
For R2012a and earlier, you need to have XQuartz installed to install MATLAB:
Download XQuartz
2. Permissions
Your account must have administrative permissions to install MATLAB. If you do not have administrative permissions on your Mac, contact your system administrator.
3. Multiple installers
On MacOS, the installer folder contains two installers:
  • InstallForMacOSX.app
  • install
The first option is the standard graphical MATLAB installer. The second option is only for installing MATLAB from the Terminal. These are not interchangeable: if installing graphically, use InstallForMacOSX.app, if installing from the Terminal, use install. For more information on installing from the Terminal, see the MATLAB documentation:
Install Noninteractively (Silent Installation)
4. Security software
Security and antivirus software may prevent you from installing MATLAB. Temporarily disable your security software, or add MATLAB to your security software's whitelist, to launch the installer.
5. Third-party archive tool
If you have installed third-party archive tools such as The Unarchiver or WinZip for Mac, make sure you extract the installer before running it. The installer cannot be run from inside the zip archive it was downloaded in, and must be extracted to a folder before it will run.
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