Third-party toolbox cannot set a permanent path after MATLAB 2023b upgrade

I upgraded MATLAB to 2023b. I ran cvx_setup to install a third-party toolbox. User Account Control in Windows 11 does not allow a permanent path addition.

Answer 1

[Stefanie Schwarz]

You can try starting MATLAB as an admin, or save pathdef.m in your userpath. See Option 1 & 4 in the following MATLAB Answers post for details:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/95811-why-can-t-i-save-my-matlab-path-on-windows-with-user-account-control-uac-enabled

As well as: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/2025232-problems-with-savepath-in-r2023b

Side note: CVX is a third party toolbox that is not owned or supported by MathWorks.

Answer 2

[Xiaorui Tang]

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention.

We have confirmed that this is a bug in the savepath function on Windows in MATLAB R2023b, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We're working on a solution for this issue, which will be included in one of the upcoming MATLAB 2023b Update releases soon.

In the meantime, there are two workarounds to save the path:

1. Manually change the permissions of the pathdef.m file in Windows:

• Use the "which pathdef" command in MATLAB to identify the location of the pathdef.m file. It should be located at <matlabroot>\toolbox\local\pathdef.m
• Navigate to this location in your Windows File Explorer.
• Right-click on the pathdef.m file and select 'Properties'.
• Navigate to the 'Security' tab.
• Click on 'Edit' to change permissions, and ensure 'Full control' is checked under the 'Allow' column for your user account.

OR

2. Run MATLAB with administrative rights:

• Close MATLAB if it is currently open.
• Right-click on your MATLAB shortcut on the desktop or in the start menu.
• Select 'Run as administrator'.

These are temporary workarounds and should be unnecessary once the bug is fixed in the upcoming MATLAB 2023b Update releases.

We appreciate your understanding as we work to resolve this issue.

Thanks,

MathWorks Dev Team