R2018b does not complete initialisation

I have been using R2018b successfully for some time, but a few days ago it stopped working.

When I launch Matlab now it remains in the 'Initialising' state until I close it down. I cannot navigate to a folder or open the project or model.

I also have R2020b installed and that is still working ok.

There are no errors or warnings displayed.

I checked all the things mentioned in other similar discussions - license is ok, the preferences are not corrupted, the R2XXXx folder is not corrupted, stopping virus protection makes no difference.

I executed the command "matlab -timing" and the timing log contains this:

MATLAB Startup Performance Metrics (In Seconds)

total item gap description

=========================================================

0.00 0.00 0.00 MATLAB script

0.13 0.13 0.00 main

1.11 0.99 -0.00 Session Initialize

1.26 0.00 0.15 Toolbox cache load Start

1.30 0.05 0.00 LM Startup

1.58 0.01 0.27 splash

2.34 0.18 0.58 Constant Initialization

2.36 0.78 0.00 Engine Startup

2.58 0.22 0.00 InitSunVM

6.27 3.55 0.15 PostVMInit

6.28 3.92 0.00 mljInit

6.75 0.47 0.00 StartDesktop

6.75 4.39 0.00 Java initialization

6.89 0.01 0.13 psParser

9.18 2.43 6.75 Init Desktop

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Torsten]

What changes did you make on your computer between the times when R2018b was working and when R2018b was no longer working ?

E.g., was R2022b already installed when R2018b was still working ?

What kind of licence do you use ? A university licence ?

[Ann Gray]

Both R2018b and R2020b were installed around the same time about 3 years ago.

The license is a full individual license that's valid until Feb 2025.

What has changed? Well, I remember that I inadvertently edited my R2018b model in R2020b earlier last week. Then I think I reverted that to go back to the R2018b version.

[Torsten]

Launching MATLAB should not depend on a certain model you work on, should it ? Or does the problem only occur with the model you are talking about ?

Contact MATLAB support to go through the possible reasons step by step:

https://uk.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

[Ann Gray]

Torsten - to answer your questions, there is only one model in the project that uses R2018b, and in any case since the app does not start it's not possible to select a different model anyway.

I've now managed to get R2018b working again by uninstalling, then reinstalling.

Answer 1

[Animesh]

Hey @Ann Gray,

There is a generic article for such situations that you can refer to:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/92566

[Ann Gray]

Yes, as I mentioned in the description above, I've already checked the points listed in this article - license is ok, the preferences are not corrupted, the R2XXXx folder is not corrupted, stopping virus protection makes no difference.