After you install MathWorks® products on your computer, you must activate the installation. If you do not activate the software, you will not be able to run it. Activation is a process that verifies licensed use of MathWorks products. This process validates the license and ensures that it is not used on more computers than allowed by the license option you purchased.
If you are performing multiple installations on an Individual License, you must activate each installation separately.
To activate your license for an installation, follow the prompts displayed by the installer following product installation.
If you decide to activate later, you must launch the activation
application manually. Launch MATLAB® and then go to Help > Licensing to launch activation, or you can manually launch the
app from the matlab/bin folder.
During activation, you log in to your MathWorks Account, select the license that you want to activate, and provide required information. As with the installation process, you can create a MathWorks Account during the activation process if you need one. You can also use an Activation Key to identify the license you want to activate.
When you click Activate, the activation application validates the activation in MathWorks systems and creates a License File that is locked to the particular computer and to a particular user. The activation application copies this License File onto your computer.
If you do not have an Internet connection during activation, you must have a License File to activate your license. The Administrator on the license can retrieve the License File from the License Center at the MathWorks website. In the MathWorks Software Activation dialog box, choose the Activate manually without the Internet option. In the Offline Activation dialog box, specify the location of your License File.
After activation completes, you can run MathWorks products. Throughout the term of your license, your MATLAB installation periodically contacts MathWorks to verify that your license is up-to-date. If your license is up-to-date, the validation process is transparent. If it determines that your license is not up-to-date, the validation process displays a dialog box that gives you the option of updating the license in your installation with the updated version available at the MathWorks website. A license can get out-of-date, for example, if you purchase additional products. The Administrator on the license can change this validation behavior by modifying the validation settings on a license.
In some scenarios, you might need to deactivate a license on a particular computer. For example, if you have performed the maximum number of activations allowed by your license and you want to install the software on a new computer. You must deactivate an installation of your license on one of your computers before you can activate your license for the installation on your new computer.
The best way to deactivate a license is to run the deactivation application on your computer with an Internet connection. This way the deactivation application can disable the License File on your computer and contact MathWorks to deactivate the license in MathWorks systems. If you do not have an Internet connection, the deactivation application disables the License File on your computer and returns a deactivation string. To complete the deactivation process, you must visit the License Center at the MathWorks website and enter the deactivation string to disable the activation in MathWorks systems.
For step-by-step instructions about deactivation, see the installation documentation.