Installer hang when installing Matlab R2021b as root on Ubuntu 20.04
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My operating system is Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I must install Matalb as root, and always have done. This is historic as all specialist programs are installed in /opt.
I have now downloaded MATLAB R2021b and the Installer hang when installing Matlab R2021b as root on Ubuntu 20.04, the command sudo ./install just hangs with a blinking cursor, no Matlab install GUI is displayed.
As first attempted solution I have created a MATLAB/R2021b folder in /opt, that did not help.
I have also tried to install R2021b normally with defaults but although now I progress nicely to the Matlab GUI, but the default location /usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b cannot created/located and then I have to aboard.
I have always had to install MATLAB as root.
Any advice on getting the MATLAB install GUI to display on Ubuntu R2021b will be appreciated.
Thank you
16 Comments
John Summerfield
on 26 Sep 2021
I’m having the exact same issue. Ubuntu 20.04 , Matlab R2021b installer hangs after running sudo ./install
Lorson Blair
on 28 Sep 2021
I'm also having this issue. Ubuntu 20.04.
Steph Bredenhann
on 29 Sep 2021
Lorson Blair
on 29 Sep 2021
./install works without the sudo, but you are unable to reach the Matlab folder I created /usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b. This is obvious since I did not use root access.
Lorson Blair
on 30 Sep 2021
The solution suggested by Step works. Run the command and then run sudo ./install.
Jonnathan Ortiz
on 15 Oct 2021
It worked for me! Cheers!!
Greg Chance
on 19 Oct 2021
Was having issue with this too, solution worked.
SEO Service
on 21 Oct 2021
It seems to be working for me now!
Yantong Wang
on 12 Mar 2022
It also works on R2022a! Awesome!
Nikolaos Frantzeskidis
on 31 Mar 2022
Can confirm works without issues with R2022a on Manjaro. Thank you very much!
Vinícius de Andrade
on 20 Apr 2022
Resolveu meu problema muito obrigado!
Axel Fragoso
on 28 Apr 2022
works on ubuntu 22.04 as well, thanks.
Ozge
on 16 Nov 2022
I get this problem, installing R2022b But anthing solve my “product installer down” problem
Henrik Grythe
on 26 Jan 2023
I worked my way around this problem, but got stopped at the next turn for R2022b.

Henrik Grythe
on 26 Jan 2023
file looks like its there:

Favia
on 3 May 2023
Hey guys! After I did the solution given by Step, I still get a message that says not found. Any solution for that?
Accepted Answer
More Answers (3)
Atefeh Fazel Najafabadi
on 7 Dec 2021
1 vote
worked for me on Ubuntu 18.04
Daniel Brennan
on 12 Nov 2023
Edited: Daniel Brennan
on 12 Nov 2023
0 votes
I encountered the same problem with the installer hanging and unresponsive on a gentoo variant linux OS. For me the problem was related to incompatibilities with the system installed libsqlite3.so.0 library.
I discovered the problem by manually running the <installer_dir>/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow in a terminal. Running MATLABWindow manually resulted in the following error message echoed in the terminal:
libsqlite3.so.0: Undefined Symbol: ubrk_open
This error is due to an incompatibility with the system libsqlite3.so.0 library support for icu (Internationalization Components for Unicode) and the Matlab installer. The matlab installer apparently requires dev-libs/icu v69 or later. My system has v67.
The solution is to force the installer to use Matlab's builtin libicu support. For a source based distro simply recompile sqllite without icu support. On a binary distro, you may be able to temproarily remove the executable bit (chmod -x) on the icu libs in your system library directory, install matlab, and then restore the executable bit back on the icu libs after installation.
1 Comment
Daniel Brennan
on 12 Nov 2023
Running:
ldd <installer-dir>/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow
will identify what shared libraries are being used and help identify any problematic libraries.
文萱
on 12 Aug 2025
0 votes
no use for me in 2025a and ubuntu24.04
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