Why does MATLAB take a long time to start?

I notice that MATLAB takes a long time to start. Other times it fires up right away. Any ideas on how to fix this?

[Giancarlo Storti Gajani]

Using Matlab 2020b on linux.

If I start matlab in the usual way it takes 10 minutes or more, but I've noticed a "strange" behaviour: if I start matlab as

matlab -nodesktop

it starts in about 5 seconds, if I then enter

>> desktop

at the matlab console prompt, the desktop is up and running in less than 10 seconds. If I then try starting Simulink it takes at least 5 more minutes.

Answer 1

[Ian Jessen]

A slow startup is often caused by issues with the license search path. You probably need to adjust one of the license environment variables (LM_LICENSE_FILE or MLM_LICENSE_FILE) used by MATLAB, or else bypass them all together.

There are also some instances in which your MATLAB preferences or Anti-Virus program may negatively impact startup times.

For detailed info on applying these workarounds, visit the following Technical Support solution:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-2Z18MA/

Answer 2

[Dan Cogan]

Double check with -c that the issue has to do with licencing (e.g. <path-to-matlab>/matlab.exe -c <path-to-license-file>). If it opens quickly then Matlab is having some difficulty with LM_LICENSE_FILE.

Some have recommended removing LM_LICENSE_FILE (and using MLM_LICENSE_FILE) but I couldn't because of other software. However, one of those software tools had their own unique license variable as well, so I moved the pertinent license info to that one. Now Matlab loads quickly.

I suspect that because the other tool licences in LM_LICENSE_FILE were accessed over a network, and there were several network servers, this throws Matlab off somehow. Seems like a good solution is to minimize what goes into the shared LM_LICENSE_FILE variable.

[Joshua Lawton]

I made a batch file using your suggestion and am very happy with the new start-up time of ~15 seconds compared to ~10 minutes without. -- Thanks Dan!!!

Answer 3

[Serge]

For me on Windows10 the "Antimalware Service Executable" process slows down MatLab boot time.

I was able to reduce MatLab R2023a start time from 70 sec down to 20 sec by doing the following:

In windows press Start > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Manage settings under Virus & threat protection > Add remove exclusions > Add an exclusion > Fodler > "C:\Program Files\MATLAB\"

Note: I had to restart MatLab twice for it to take affect, and the first time it may actually be slower!