MathWorks Installation Help

MATLAB License Search Path
MATLAB reads the license file at startup to check for product licensing. MATLAB searches for the
license file in the following locations, in the specified order:
1
The license file specified on MATLAB startup command line using the -c option. The -c option
overrides the entire search order and uses only what was specified on the command line. This is
the only path MATLAB searches.
2
Environment variables MLM_LICENSE_FILE and LM_LICENSE_FILE.
3
The profile folder of the person starting the program
4
The \licenses folder in the MATLAB installation for files named license.dat or any file with
the extension .lic.
After it finds a MathWorks license file, MATLAB stops searching.
Set MATLAB License Search Path
By default, MATLAB installs the license file on the client computer in the \licenses folder in the
MATLAB client installation folder. However, you can override that location in one of either of the
following ways:
• Specify the path to the license file on the command line during MATLAB startup using the -c
option.
The -c option overrides the entire search order, including environment variables, and uses only
what was specified on the command line. This is the only path MATLAB searches.
You can specify a list of paths to search. When using the -c option, keep in mind the following:
Network License Files
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• If the path to your license file contains a space, enclose the path name in quotation marks.
• If you are specifying more than one license file, make sure to enclose the entire list of license
files in quotation marks.
• Set environment variables.
• MLM_LICENSE_FILE — Specifies the location of the license file, but only for MathWorks
products. (Recommended, because it affects only MathWorks products.) MATLAB searches for
this environment variable first.
• LM_LICENSE_FILE — Specifies the location of the license file for all applications using the
network license manager on this server. It is not recommended that you use this environment
variable, as if affects all Flex-enabled products.
You can use one option or the other, but not both.