MATLAB: Does the Uninstaller fail with the message “The uninstaller could not start the JVM”

Question

When trying to run uninstall.exe from the MATLAB DVD's uninstall folder, an error appears that reads "The uninstaller could not start the JVM", and uninstallation does not proceed.

Answer 1

This enhancement has been incorporated in Release 2009b (R2009b). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:

When trying to run uninstall.exe from the MATLAB DVD's uninstall folder, an error appears that reads "The uninstaller could not start the JVM", and uninstallation does not proceed.

This occurs because the MATLAB uninstaller cannot be run from the MATLAB DVD. It needs to be executed from within the $MATLAB\uninstall folder, where $MATLAB is the root installation folder of MATLAB. This folder contains data that is not available in the DVD's uninstall folder: the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) as well as information about installed products. Running the uninstall.exe found in the $MATLAB\uninstall folder will avoid the indicated error and enable uninstallation.