NOTE - This guide is primarily intended for user with University provided laptop who are working off-site. It has been written assuming that the reader is using a modern web browser and Gnome GUI, although similar actions may be performed with other graphical environments. Some command-line understanding is also assumed.
It is possible to install Matlab as a regular user (without having to use Admin privileges) - you will need a decent Network Connection and around 30-40GB of user-writable space on your local system.
Navigate to the MathWorks page at https://uk.mathworks.com
In the top, right-hand corner of the page, click the ‘Get MATLAB’ button:
Select ‘Download’ under ‘Get the Latest Release’ on the next page:
If you are not logged in then you will be prompted to sign in with your University linked MathWorks account, then click ‘Next’:
If you do not have a MathWorks account then click on the link to ‘Create one!’ - When completing the registration form, please ensure that you select the most appropriate Department in the drop-down box. Your e-mail will be verified by MathWorks and through the University’s IT Service.
When your account has been authorised you will be prompted to Download the Application – select the Release Version on the left of the screen and then ‘Download for Linux’
From your browser, select a location for the download (if it does not automatically save it to a default location) – Note, the download file takes up over 170MB of space and this decompresses to another 500+MB. Do not select the ‘Open with’ option.
When it has finished downloading you can use your file browser to extract the archive by right-clicking on it. Note, you may also use ‘tar xvf’ in a terminal window.
Open a terminal window, navigate to the extracted directory and enter
./install
The MathWorks Product Installer will then run. Log in, again, with your University-linked MathWorks account and click ‘Next:
Read and agree to the Terms of the License Agreement and click ‘Next’:
Select the required License (usually only one is presented) and click ‘Next’: (If you are prompted for a Login Name then select the UserID you use to log on to the system upon which you are installing the Matlab Application).
For the Destination folder, select a path where you have write access and around 35GB of free space (if installing the full package), then click ‘Next’:
Select all the products you wish to install, then click ‘Next’:
Recommended – Create symbolic links in a folder currently included in your path. This is often the .local/bin folder in your Home directory. You may wish to untick the ‘Improve Matlab…’ box. Click ‘Next’:
Click ‘Begin Install’ and the application will start downloading and installing the application:
At the end of the installation process click ‘Close’ – you may then run Matlab by executing the command ‘matlab’ in the .local/bin directory or in the corresponding bin folder in the tree where the application was installed.