Activate button missing in License Center, Get Started button takes me to MATLAB Online.

2 years ago, I installed MATLAB on my computer, but I didn't want it to have admin privileges, so I deactivated it for the computer, and tried to reactivate it for the regular user account of the same machine, but I didn't succeed. Now I have to use MATLAB again, and I read that you can install it on a non-admin account if you use the method for installing it on an offline computer. I downloaded the files through the installer, and now I would like to get the license file, but when I go to the Install and Activate tab in the License Center, the only button I see says Get Started and takes me to matlab.mathworks.com. (I also have no icon for the license file in my account where it shows the license.)

I have an academic license which I activted with my university email address.

What could be the reason for this problem? What can I do to fix it? Can I really install Matlab for a regular user account with the offline method?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer 1

[Gyan Vaibhav]

Hi Barbara,

Normally MATLAB installation requires administrative privileges, because it normally stores under C:\Program Files which is protected by MS Window's UAC (User Access Control) facilities. See the following answer: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/301835-activating-matlab-on-non-administrator-windows-account

If you had it installed previously you might be able to find your license files, follow this link to see how:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/99147-where-can-i-find-matlab-license-files

Furthermore, for academic licenses, I don't think you can download license files. You will have to contact your license administrator, for the license files. Then try installing MATLAB, in some other folder that your user can write to.

You can follow this guide to download and do offline install however this would also require you to provide license files.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/install/ug/download-without-installing.html

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Gyan

[Barbara]

Hi Gyan,

I tried looking for the license file on my computer, and I found a file at

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\MathWorks\MATLAB\R20XXx_licenses. It's named

license_%HOSTNAME%_%LICENCENUMBER%_R2022b.lic.deact, and it says

## THIS LICENSE HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED (license #...) ##

## DEACTIVATION STRING: ... ##

Is this information hepful in ddetermining what the reason for my problem is?

Also, when I click Resolve a connection issue, there's an option to Activate to Retrieve License File (For Releases R2023a and earlier). Would that work (if I installed one of those older versions with the offline method)?

Thanks for your help!

[Gyan Vaibhav]

Hi,

You can try however, I am not sure how that works. I guess your current license is disabled and best resolution is going to be reaching out to your license administrator, to obtain a license file.

Thanks