Student Matlab 2013a with Mac OS Yosemite, not working

Since I updated my MacPro to Yosemite, my Student Matlab 2013a doesn't work.

I did this... http://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/1116607

But I was having problems with the following... http://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/1098655

I get the following error... "The folder you selected does not appear to contain a valid MATLAB installaction"

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony

Answer 1

[Marco]

Hey Antonio,

I also use MATLAB R2013a (Student Version) and read a lot of reports about incompatibility of OS X Yosemite and MATLAB versions < R2014b. So my first try was an installation of Yosemite in Parallels Desktop as a virtual machine.

Within the VM these steps made MATLAB run:

1. Install Java 6 for Mac: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572
2. Install MATLAB
3. Change the System Version in /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist. Search for the key ProductVersion and change the string from 10.10 to 10.90. You cannot edit this file directly, you have to copy it to your desktop, edit it and copy it back.
4. Change the Bundle Version of MATLAB in /Applictions/Matlab_XXXX/Contents/Info.plist. Search for the key BundleVersion and change the string from 8.x.x to 9.x.x . To access it, you have to right click on MATLAB app in Applications and select Show Package Contents.
5. You may have to start MATLAB manually by opening /Applictions/Matlab_XXXX/bin/matlab. (Currently I can open it directly after applying the changes above).

However these changes will break the disk utility and maybe have some additional (currently unknown) effects. So it would be a good idea the revert the changes described above when you quit MATLAB.

Please tell me if this workaround helped you, maybe I would then be convinced to upgrade my system, too. :-)

UPDATE

I found some reports, that the changes described above may cause your Mac to not start, therefore I wanted some automatism for this workaround. I found out, that the changes are only necessary until MATLAB is started, you can revert the changes directly afterwards.

So i wrote a little shell script which can be used to start MATLAB:

sudo sed -i '' 's/>10.10</>10.90</' /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist
open -a MATLAB_R2013a_Student
read -p "Press any key when MATLAB started..."
sudo sed -i '' 's/>10.90</>10.10</' /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist

Within execution of this script you are asked to enter your password and you need to confirm when MATLAB has successfully started.

[Jatin89]

Well Thank you for posting. I did the thing you said and it is working for me now. I downloaded JAVA6 from your link. Then skipped to step 4 and ran the Matlab R2013a and it worked.

[Andres]

I didn't run the shell script, but I did the 5 listed steps above. When I was finished with MATLAB, I reverted the changes I made to the .plist files, but when I restarted my computer, I noticed that any pre-installed applications (such as TextEdit, which I tried to use to fix this problem) could not be launched anymore. Does anyone know how to fix this?

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[Andres]

[Marco]

So when you open the SystemVersion.plist the version numbers are set to 10.10?

[Andres]

I couldn't even open SystemVersion.plist because TextEdit wouldn't work...

Answer 2

[Helen]

A simpler solution that worked for me when I upgraded to Yosemite with Matlab already installed:

1. Download Java SE 6: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572 This will install Java 6, and will keep the newer version of Java (e.g., 7 or 8) without conflicts.

2. Locate where the java 6 related files are, you can do this in terminal by inspecting the output of "/usr/libexec/java_home -verbose"

3. export MATLAB_JAVA=<dir_to_the_above_location>

4. Apply the patch to your version: http://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/1098655

And Voila! Matlab will use Java 6, and all the rest applications the newer version.

[Abram Langston]

I'm not a super tech guy and I don't understand step 3 and 4 to Helen's response

[Andrii Kuch]

Helen, thanks! That works perfectly!

Abram (and other people, who may need help), I'll try to explain Helen's steps for you:

1) Download and install Java 6 - must be easy

2) Open Terminal, type "/usr/libexec/java_home -verbose". You will see several (different versions) lines: for Java 6 and two for Java 7. but for all Java 6 records you will have the same path (most right column). For me it was /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home, for you it may vary. Copy this line.

3) In Terminal type "export MATLAB_JAVA=<path_from_step_2>". So, in my example: export MATLAB_JAVA=/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home Do not close it till next step is done.

4) Download one of the files attached (these are exactly the patch 1098655, Helen wrote about.) Choose the file depending on the version of MATLAB you wish to patch: patch_1098655.dmg.zip for MATLAB R2013b or R2014a, or patch_1098655_Java6.dmg.zip for MATLAB R2012b or R2013a. If you are not sure, just try both. Error, that necessary file cannot be found, means you picked wrong file, try other one. Patch file itself is just an app file, like simple installation, that will ask you to select your Matlab app (usually in Applications) and admin password later.

Must work for you now. Ask questions if something )

[Marco]

Installing Java 6 and applying the new patch was enough on my Mac to made MATLAB run.

[Mina]

THANK YOU SO MUCH... YOU JUST SAVED MY SEMESTER!

[Trevor]

Thank for the fix it works great. I can launch matlab manually using /Applictions/Matlab_XXXX/bin/matlab. But the application icon in my applications folder still will not launch as it says "You can’t use this version of the application “MATLAB_R2013a_Student.app” with this version of OS X." Is there any way to fix this or am i just resigned to launch it manually from now on and have the terminal open?

thanks

Trevor

[Kyle]

Thanks Helen works great!

Trevor, I have the same problem as you do.. I rigged an acceptable fix:

Locate /Applictions/Matlab_XXXX/bin/matlab in finder and create an alias of the exec.

Rename the alias 'MATLAB'

To change the icon, right click app, select show contents, contents folder, resources folder, open MATLAB.icns and copy the icon. Then right click the alias, select 'Get Info,' click the icon in the top left (make sure its highlighted) and paste the icon. Very straightforward.

There you go! It has to be docked as a file but I'm glad to have that over nothing!.. That is, if you even care to dock MATLAB.

[Trevor]

Kyle,

I did the same. I was just wondering if there was something I could do to open matlab without having to have the terminal open at the same time. But I guess this is it unless Mathworks decides to fix it.

Answer 3

[Renato]

Thanks a lot Marco, your script works perfectly :D