MATLAB says in Command Window, "Cannot acquire a MATLAB licence..."

Every so often while MATLAB is open, the command window delivers the below text:

"Cannot acquire a MATLAB license.

There will be X more attempt(s) to acquire a license before the application exits.

Save any work now."

I have been closing and restarting MATLAB before it exits by itself to keep that on my own terms, however would like for it to be able to validate my licence. I have a student licence, and am logged in at the top right corner of the application. I was having problems some time ago and attempted to delete and reinstall the licence manager. This helped those problems but now I have this issue.

I already tried installing a new version to see if that would help (was on 2023a), so I installed version 2023b. The problem persists. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[Walter Roberson]

You are losing communications to the license server.

If you are using a VPN to the university then the VPN might be timing out.

[Jorawar]

I am having the same issue however I am not using a VPN

[Vinzenz Schöberle]

I am in the exact same situation, I don't use a VPN either

[Fitzwilliam]

i am having same issue

[Thane]

I am having the same issue

Answer 1

[Jaswanth]

Hi Ethan,

I have encountered the same issue with MATLAB R2023a displaying an error message about failing to acquire a MATLAB license. What worked for me was uninstalling and then reinstalling the most recent version of the MathWorks Service Host, which seemed to fix the problem.

For detailed steps on how to properly uninstall and reinstall the MathWorks service host, please refer to the following article:

• How do I uninstall and reinstall MathWorks Service Host?https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1815365

As outlined in the article, the MathWorks Service Host provides essential services needed by other MathWorks products, including the licensing functionality crucial for MATLAB and web service functionality for the MATLAB Drive Connector. If you're experiencing problems starting up, it might be necessary to reinstall the MathWorks Service Host, as suggested.

I hope this solution helps you resolve the licensing issue with MATLAB.

Regards,

Jaswanth.

[Demetrius]

Any idea why this would be happening with the MATLAB Online version? This is my 1st year teacing MATLAB and today, a student was getting the same error and they're using MATLAB online. This happened to them in a computer lab today. First on their personal laptop & then they closed MATLAB on their laptop to try the desktop computer in the classroom and still got the same error. No other student in the class had this issue. Picture below. Last name was part of the file name so that's been removed.