Why do I get a "Deactivation Required" message when I start MATLAB?

When I start MATLAB, I get a message that says deactivation is required. Why am I asked to deactivate MATLAB?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The "Deactivation Required" message indicates that your license file is invalid or expired.

This message can occur for several reasons:

- The Licensed End User or License Administrator manually deactivates using the MathWorks License Center.

- MATLAB installation was moved to a different computer.

- Computer was reconfigured and is no longer recognized by MATLAB as the machine that you activated.

Any of the above actions will cause MATLAB to require the user to deactivate the license on the local machine.

To resolve this issue, deactivate and reactivate MATLAB.

For instructions, please see the following support articles:

How do I deactivate MATLAB?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/100663

How do I activate MATLAB?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/99457

NOTE: Deactivation will only disable MATLAB, it will not uninstall it from your computer. When you reactivate, MATLAB will continue working normally. 

If you are not sure why you are receiving this message, please contact your license administrator to verify the status of your license.

[Walter Roberson]

The links given are to the main MATLAB site in English. The main MATLAB site detects your region and redirects you to your local site. Please see https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/699985-changing-my-mathworks-com-location#answer_581675 for information on changing that.

[Walter Roberson]

That individual topic happens to be in Japanese.

MATLAB Central has an interface in Japanese, and one in Korean, and one in Chinese, with discussions held primiarily in those languages. The topics there are normally not shown in the English interface, but you can get to them through searches or by asking for the individual topic, or if you happen upon a URL.

The English equivalents are:

How do I deactivate MATLAB?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/100663-how-do-i-deactivate-matlab

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/99859-how-can-i-deactivate-matlab-on-a-machine-i-cannot-access

How do I activate MATLAB?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/99457-how-do-i-activate-matlab-or-other-mathworks-products

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/259627-how-do-i-activate-matlab-or-other-mathworks-products-without-an-internet-connection