Matlab 2020b won't open on Mac OS Big Sur

I've recently updated to Matlab 2020b, which has worked fine for a number of weeks. I have updated my Mac OS to Big Sur this weekend, and Matlab 2020b now won't open (not excluding the possiblity that this could be a coincidence).

The icon appears for a second or so, as if it is loading up, and then disappears. I have tried restarting my computer, reinstalling Matlab, and reinstalling Java (following suggesitons on previous posts). Any recommnedations would be very welcome!

Thank you.

[Selen Dalgan]

i have the same exact issue and it sucks

Answer 1

[Ameer Hamza]

See what happen when you try to start it from command line. Run following line in terminal

/Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/matlab

[Laura Hobbs]

This worked, thanks very much! Couldn't run through Terminal, but found the same file in the directory and it worked.

Is there any way I can now launch Matlab without having to follow this process everytime.

Thank you for your advice.

[Ameer Hamza]

I recently updated to Big Sur but didn't face this problem. So I am not able to try anything to solve this. Maybe create a symlink on the desktop so you can launch MATLAB by double-clicking it. For example

ln -s /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/matlab ~/Desktop/matlab

Answer 2

[Dmitry Savransky]

I just ran into this, and it appears to be a disk access issue (same thing - can't launch from icon but can launch from command line). To fix, go to Preferences>Security & Privacy>Full Disk Acccess, unlock, and click the check box by MATLAB, and it should start launching via the dock icon once more.

[haoyue gao]

This works, Thanks!

[Nanny Wermuth]

This worked for me as well, many thanks

[Brandon O'Connell]

This worked a treat! Thanks alot!

Answer 3

[Alperen kilic]

ı am using big sur on 2019 mac pro base model. when i click matlab, the pc is not responding.

Answer 4

[John D'Errico]

The simple solution of course to resolve any problems is to use R2021. It seems to run nicely on Big Sur. That is, given we are in 2021.

[Nanny Wermuth]

I cannot see any version 2021 on mathworks.com, so how did you access it?

Answer 5

[thomas greenhill]

I'm also having this problem.

When I originally updated to Big Sur, I was able to get R2021a to open by changing the Full Disk Access settings as Dmitry suggested.

Big Sur automatically updated again last night, and I'm now on version 11.2, and MATLAB won't open this morning. The logo pops up and stays open, but the IDE never presents itself. The disk privileges fix that worked last time doesn't work anymore. I can't even open R2021a from the command line with sudo privileges by typing:

sudo "/Applications/MATLAB_R2021a.app/bin/matlab"

in terminal.

Is there a permanent fix for this? I've honeslty found Big Sur extremely buggy. Have others had a similar experience with the updated OS?

[Arun Tangirala]

Yes, Big Sur better be renamed as Bug Sure, for the significantly poor and buggy performance!

With MATLAB and SIMULINK on Big Sur, I find slow response from SIMULINK. Add to it the screen sharing on MS Teams (sufficient to embarass you if you are a course instructor). Whether it is the issue with Big Sur or SIMULINK or their interplay, I am not sure but I suspect Big Sur has a stronger role in slowing things down. On the other hand, MATLAB, especially SIMULINK has also been growing into a resource consuming dinosaur :-)

[Arun Tangirala]

Btw, I am using updated Big Sur (Mac OS 11.1) and MATLAB R2020b.

Answer 6

[thomas greenhill]

Update:

If you are connected to an external monitor, try unplugging it, opening up MATLAB with your laptop screen open, then plugging monitor back in.

This solved it for me and it appears MATLAB is still struggling with some screen-level events on macOS.

I hope this will help someone in the future!