(Linux/ubuntu) I accidently installed matlab without a simbolic link and I can't find the original file, how can I open and/or delete and/or reinstall matlab?

So I installed Matlab at /home/<myname/userfile> without a simbolic link and I'm having trouble running it or just otherwise fixing the problem since i can't find the file

heres a photo of the place I put it in

the .matlab at the bottom left contains this and doesn't respond to ./matlab so I assume it's the wrong file

dpkg -l | grep matlab

this command returns nothing

this is the directory I put it in in the menu, the default location didn't work and it wouldn't let me put it in my personal file

this happens when i try to install it again

matlab does show up in the generic program search but clicking on it doesn't do anything

(top two icons don't do anything when clicked; the "2_3_2024 new partition matlab" is the file put the installer in, i tried using ./matlab there too, i also tried ./matlab at the "mw-matlab.desktop" directory and that didn't work either

at this point i just want to delete it and reinstall but since i can't find the file i can't delete it and therefore can't reinstall it, does anyone know how I can fix this?

Answer 1

[Gyan Vaibhav]

Hi Max,

So, I understand what you are facing as I also had a similar problem once. Here are few things that you can consider.

• So, when you run the installer, the default location for installation might not be available, as your user might not have the right privileges. So, to install at the default location you can use sudo ./install to run the installer as administrator.
• However, I think your MATLAB is installed correctly, as when you change the install location from the default one ("/usr/local/MATLAB/R20xxx") to your folder ("/home/max") it doesn't create the "MATLAB/R20xxx" folder in the location you chose, instead it puts all the files created during the installation, in the folder ("/home/max/") itself.
• The following files and folders are part of your MATLAB installation, and these are the files you are looking for. You might have more or less files depending on the products and toolboxes you might have installed.

• You would need to delete these if you want to re-install in the same location. However, you can go to the bin folder and try running matlab file using

./matlab

This should start MATLAB if it was installed correctly.

• To reinstall follow this guide and for better structure try changing the installation folder to ("/home/max/MATLAB/R20xxx"), so that you can find and easily remove the files when you need to do so.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/install/ug/uninstall-mathworks-products.html

Beware of the follwing command given in the above guide. As this would delete all the files in the directory.

rm -rf matlabroot 

Instead of using this command you can safely remove the folders by selecting and deleting if needed.

• Further, if you have installed other programs in the same directory ("/home/max") the directories such as bin might contain files of those programs too.
• For re-installing please follow the official guide here. https://www.mathworks.com/help/install/ug/install-products-with-internet-connection.html
• You can follow this official answer too:https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/131519-how-do-i-perform-a-clean-installation-of-matlab

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Gyan

[Max]

Problem solved Thank you!!

[Brian Ho]

Thanks too! I encounter tyhe same issues