MATLAB Installation Process
Purpose
This article is designed to help guide users through the MATLAB installation process for campus-only computers.
Installation takes three steps: creating a MathWorks account, downloading the software, and installing the software onto your machine while associating your MathWorks account.
Creating a MathWorks Account
Go to www.mathworks.com to create your account. Be sure to use your University email address to do so (e.g., duckid@uoregon.edu).
Acquiring Installation Key
The MATLAB installation key can be acquired at the UO Software Center website which requires your Duck ID and password to authenticate.
Upon authentication, the site will find your UO affiliation level and determine which operating system your computer is running (Windows or macOS), then it will list the available software. Select MATLAB from the list to proceed.
From there, select the MATLAB Licensing Information for (latest version: r20XXa/b). This will download an RTF file with the key. Open the file, then copy the key information for the Individual License.
Associating key with the Campus License
Next, you need to associate your MathWorks account with the campus license:
Once you are logged in, click on the View My Licenses button then…
…click on Associate License to enter the license code
Copy and paste the code into the field then click Associate License.
From here, you will be redirected to download any of the last eight versions to install for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Mac OS X 64-bit, and Linux. Select the desired option to correspond with your operating system.
Then, follow the steps on the MathWorks website to download the appropriate file.
Lab installer file
When you sign-in to the UO Software Center, there is a license.dat file that you can use. Click on the link to download it.
When you are prompted for account authentication, you will also be able to associate it with the license on the campus server through the license.dat file.
Installation
Open up the MATLAB download (which will be a compressed file) and select the Installation executable file program then follow the installation instructions. The installation will require either an association with your MathWorks account or a file installation key.
Windows
Downloaded installer file — If you click Run when you select the installer on the MathWorks website, the installer starts automatically. If you saved the installer instead, double-click the self-extracting installer file in the folder where you saved it. The name of the self-extracting installer file is matlab_release
_$ARCH
, where release
is the release you are installing (for example R2015b) and $ARCH
is the selected architecture.
The installer should start automatically after file extraction is complete.
To restart the installer later, click setup.exe
. This file is located in the top level of the folder where you extracted the files.
Mac OS X
If you or an administrator downloaded the product files and copied the extracted files to your computer, a network share, or to media, go to the top level of the folder where the product files are located and double-click the InstallForMacOSX
icon to begin the installation.

Gaining access without network connectivity
Access to MATLAB can be granted to users without network connectivity. The process is the same as listed above but with a few differences. In order to proceed with this method, users will need the following:
- HostID (or MAC address)
- The version of MATLAB you would like to install (e.g., R2015b)
- Operating System
MathWorks has extended documentation on this process which can be found here.
Links to Additional Content
Go to www.mathworks.com to create your account. Be sure to use your University email address to do so (e.g., duckid@uoregon.edu).
Acquiring Installation Key
The MATLAB installation key can be acquired at the UO Software Center website which requires your Duck ID and password to authenticate.
Upon authentication, the site will find your UO affiliation level and determine which operating system your computer is running (Windows or macOS), then it will list the available software. Select MATLAB from the list to proceed.
From there, select the MATLAB Licensing Information for (latest version: r20XXa/b). This will download an RTF file with the key. Open the file, then copy the key information for the Individual License.
Associating key with the Campus License
Next, you need to associate your MathWorks account with the campus license:
Once you are logged in, click on the View My Licenses button then…
…click on Associate License to enter the license code
Copy and paste the code into the field then click Associate License.
From here, you will be redirected to download any of the last eight versions to install for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Mac OS X 64-bit, and Linux. Select the desired option to correspond with your operating system.
Then, follow the steps on the MathWorks website to download the appropriate file.
Lab installer file
When you sign-in to the UO Software Center, there is a license.dat file that you can use. Click on the link to download it.
When you are prompted for account authentication, you will also be able to associate it with the license on the campus server through the license.dat file.
Installation
Open up the MATLAB download (which will be a compressed file) and select the Installation executable file program then follow the installation instructions. The installation will require either an association with your MathWorks account or a file installation key.
Windows
Downloaded installer file — If you click Run when you select the installer on the MathWorks website, the installer starts automatically. If you saved the installer instead, double-click the self-extracting installer file in the folder where you saved it. The name of the self-extracting installer file is matlab_release
_$ARCH
, where release
is the release you are installing (for example R2015b) and $ARCH
is the selected architecture.
The installer should start automatically after file extraction is complete.
To restart the installer later, click setup.exe
. This file is located in the top level of the folder where you extracted the files.
Mac OS X
If you or an administrator downloaded the product files and copied the extracted files to your computer, a network share, or to media, go to the top level of the folder where the product files are located and double-click the InstallForMacOSX
icon to begin the installation.

Gaining access without network connectivity
Access to MATLAB can be granted to users without network connectivity. The process is the same as listed above but with a few differences. In order to proceed with this method, users will need the following:
- HostID (or MAC address)
- The version of MATLAB you would like to install (e.g., R2015b)
- Operating System
MathWorks has extended documentation on this process which can be found here.
Links to Additional Content
Next, you need to associate your MathWorks account with the campus license:
Once you are logged in, click on the View My Licenses button then…
…click on Associate License to enter the license code
Copy and paste the code into the field then click Associate License.
From here, you will be redirected to download any of the last eight versions to install for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Mac OS X 64-bit, and Linux. Select the desired option to correspond with your operating system.
Then, follow the steps on the MathWorks website to download the appropriate file.
Installation
Open up the MATLAB download (which will be a compressed file) and select the Installation executable file program then follow the installation instructions. The installation will require either an association with your MathWorks account or a file installation key.
Windows
Downloaded installer file — If you click Run when you select the installer on the MathWorks website, the installer starts automatically. If you saved the installer instead, double-click the self-extracting installer file in the folder where you saved it. The name of the self-extracting installer file is matlab_
, where release
_$ARCH
release
is the release you are installing (for example R2015b) and $ARCH
is the selected architecture.
The installer should start automatically after file extraction is complete.
To restart the installer later, click setup.exe
. This file is located in the top level of the folder where you extracted the files.
Mac OS X
If you or an administrator downloaded the product files and copied the extracted files to your computer, a network share, or to media, go to the top level of the folder where the product files are located and double-click the InstallForMacOSX
icon to begin the installation.
Gaining access without network connectivity
Access to MATLAB can be granted to users without network connectivity. The process is the same as listed above but with a few differences. In order to proceed with this method, users will need the following:
- HostID (or MAC address)
- The version of MATLAB you would like to install (e.g., R2015b)
- Operating System
MathWorks has extended documentation on this process which can be found here.
Links to Additional Content
MathWorks has a full guide on installing MATLAB for various situations. Click here to proceed.