How do I make a desktop launcher for MATLAB in Linux?

I don’t want to have to open a terminal window every time I want to launch MATLAB on Linux. I tried to make a Gnome launcher, but it does not seem to work. The command I gave was:

 /usr/local/bin/matlab &

I see the process running, but now windows appear. What am I doing wrong?

[Royi Avital]

Is there a reason why Mathworks doesn't supply such Launcher with the installer?

[Galen Lynch]

With 1,737 views in the last month, this question is apparently still quite relevant. The lack of a desktop launcher for Gnome, which is about 10 lines of text, is a glaring omission on the part of Mathworks for such an expensive product.

[Antonio Bono]

I agree with Galen. It's very disappointing that Mathworks hasn't yet solved this issue...

[Tim Darrah]

Couldn't have been said better...

[Calin Bira]

try to run as such: /usr/local/bin/matlab -desktop

Answer 1

[John]

To have MATLAB open up from a launcher, you need to add the –desktop flag to the command field. For example:

/usr/local/matlab/bin/matlab –desktop

If that does not work, try changing the launcher type from "Application" to "Application in terminal". If there is a MATLAB startup error, it won’t be displayed unless MATLAB is started with terminal.

[Royi Avital]

Why don't you supply a Desktop Launcher for Ubuntu Based distributions? Something that at the end of the installation create an launcher on the menu like in Windows.

[Skahu Skahu]

I agree with @Royi

[HONG YANG]

I can launch matlab in terminal, but I can't launch through desktop icon. This answer exactly solves my problem! The following is my matlab.desktop.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]

Version=R2019a

Type=Application

Terminal=false

Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2019a/bin/matlab -desktop

Name=matlab

Comment=R2019a

Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2019a/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png

[Guillaume]

@Hong Yang,

You would be better off starting your own question rather than replying to an 8 year-old question.

[Nathik Salam]

@Hong Yang

So glad you answered

[Jeanine Baumert]

super helpful, thank you so much

[Raman Sarda]

Very helpful. I wasn't able to find the icon. Thanks!

[Christopher Wong]

@John This works marvelously. Why is this flag not discussed in the main documentation! I just spent hours trying to figure this out.

[Randall Pittman]

@Christopher Wong It is, but it's just hard to find.

See

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlablinux.html

under "Input Arguments"

[Dhananjay Rana]

thanks a ton! it really helped me a lot!

Answer 2

[KimHan]

In your terminal, type sudo apt-get install matlab-support, press enter, and follow the instructions. It works for Ubuntu 16.0 LTE

[Jonathan Kane]

I have Ubuntu 16.04LTS and executed 'sudo apt-get install matlab-support' and it didn't work. No Matlab icons.

BTW, I tried doing this through the App center first. It gave weird installation errors and didn't work. Then I tried following the instructions on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MATLAB :

1. Get an icon:

sudo wget http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Matlab_Logo.png -O /usr/share/icons/matlab.png

2. Get the launcher file:

sudo wget 'https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MATLAB?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=matlab-r2012a.desktop' -O /usr/share/applications/matlab.desktop)

That didn't work either.

Any suggestions? Could it be that I didn't enable the "make symbolic links" button when I installed Matlab?

[José Hinostroza]

These two steps worked as a charm for me in R2018a, I just had to copy the launcher to the desktop and change the name.

[Robert Watson]

The matlab icon can also be found within the default install package at the following path

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2018b/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png

[Anderson English]

This solution works for Kali 5.2 KDE

[Jean-Baptiste Talbot]

It worked well for me! Thank you!

[Rayko Stantchev]

This also worked for me on MX linux 19

[Igor]

Also worked for Linux Mint 20, thanks!

[Alejandro Argueta]

Worked for Ubuntu 20.04!

[Ahmad Asmandar]

its worked for me ubuntu 20.04 KDE kernel 5.4.0-52

[Eddie]

I have 2018b installed and it had a 2018b icon. I installed 2019b but it had no desktop icon. After running "sudo apt-get install matlab-support", the 2018b icon is gone and the new "Matlab" icon doesn't launch either matlab versions. :-(

I hoped I could have both versions on my PC.

Yes, quite amazing that Matlab hasn't solved this problem for such an expensive tool.

I was able to get a 2018b icon back using Tucker McClure's approach. And also created an icon for 2019b using the same approach.

[Mahmoud Ghorab]

Thanks!!

[Syed Abdul Salam]

Thanks!

Worked for me on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

[Ravi Kiran Aggadi]

the instruction works, perfectly.

[Elham Ravanbakhsh]

Worked perfectly!

[Kiss Máté]

Amazing! Thank you :)

[Shai Feldfogel]

Worked for me! Thanks!

[Cameron Klein]

Thanks!!! This worked

[Andrea Barone]

Worked as charm on ubuntu 20.04 R2021a!

[Bahadir Eryilmaz]

Thanks. It worked!!

[Siddh Raman Pant]

This should be the accepted answer now.

[Hayk Asatryan]

I confirm this, too. Thank you!

[Mostafa Ahmed]

Working on Ubuntu 20.04 with matlab 2021a

[LUCA GIROTTI]

Is there something similar with Arch?

[Eduardo Salazar Hidalgo]

Working on Ubuntu 20.04 with matlab R2020b

[Joshua Davis]

ditto Eduardo

Working on Ubuntu 20.04 with matlab R2022a

[Maxime Escande]

Working on Ubuntu 22.04 with Matlab R2022a, thanks a lot!

[Debjyoti]

worked it like a spell! thanks.

[chi-an lee]

work well on ubuntu 18.04 !

[Cesar Banda]

Thank you!!

[Simon Bachhuber]

How do we re-run this package if we upgrade from say 2021b to 2022b?

The launcher Icon is dead after upgrading.

"apt reinstall" does not work.

[Hongbo Zhao]

it worked on ubuntu 22.04 with matlab R2022b!

Just need to find it in application and then right click, add to favorites

[Tiago]

It works in Ubuntu 22.04 with Matlab R2023b too.

[Zhu]

Works well on Ubuntu 20.04 with Matlba R2023b.

But how do yall configure the Gcc in the instructions?

[Weiwei]

Works well on Ubuntu 24.04 with Matlab R2024a.

[Aitor]

It worked for me as well, in Matlab R2024a.

[Wouter Verstraelen]

@Simon Bachhuber can specify the path of the specific installation version in /etc/matlab/debconf . Also spent some time removing linking files and reinstalling the whole thing; not sure how much of that was really necessary

[Ataberk]

best answer in this thread, worked on Linux Mint 22.1 Xia

[Madhav Swaraj]

thanks alot. worked for r2025b

Answer 3

[Tucker McClure]

I seemed to have to do the least to get this to work, so I thought I'd share. I'm on Ubuntu 16.04 and installed with the defaults. I created ~/.local/share/applications/matlab_r2015a.desktop with the following contents:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=MATLAB R2015a
Icon=matlab
Path=/home/tucker/dev
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2015a/bin/glnxa64/MATLAB -desktop -prefersoftwareopengl
Terminal=false

I then made it executable:

chmod +x matlab_r2015a.desktop

I then navigated to ~/.local/share/applications/ with the file browser (you may need to click View > Show Hidden Files to see .local) and dragged the matlab_r2015a.desktop file to the launcher bar. It showed up, I clicked on it, and it opened MATLAB.

[kevin]

Yes, this worked for me on 2018a. Should be the right answer. Remember to change the path to your own home directory (or any directory that exists) or it will fail to launch.

[Charles Ragan]

Worked for me too on creating a non-MATLAB application launcher on Ubuntu 18.04.

[Ayush Soni]

What does this line signify?:

Path=/home/tucker/dev

[Nelson Rodriguez]

Works! Thank you!

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=MATLAB R2020a
Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png
Path=/home/nelson
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/bin/glnxa64/MATLAB -desktop -prefersoftwareopengl
Terminal=false

[Martin Hanik]

Works! Thank you for sharing!

[Cesar Julian Cerpa Diaz]

i used this way to fix my icon desktop on manajaro and that's it. thanks

[Isidro Losada López]

In my case, I had problems with the graphics at some point. I found a solution somewhere (I really don't remember where, sorry) that not only solved my problem, but my graphics improved consederably. You just have to change a line in the matlab.desktop file:

Exec=env MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i965 /usr/local/bin/matlab -desktop -prefersoftwareopengl

It worked for me in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and now in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS!

Answer 4

[Trevor Moon]

1. Create a linux .desktop file

touch ~/.local/share/applications/matlab.desktop

2. Add/copy relevant details for app launcher

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/path/to/matlab -desktop
Name=MATLAB RXXXXx
Icon=/path/to/icon
Comment=MATLAB

where /path/to/matlab is recommended to use usr/local/MATLAB/RXXXXx/bin/glnxa64/MATLAB and /path/to/icon is usr/local/MATLAB/RXXXXx/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png

3. Make the file executable

chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/matlab.desktop

4. Test the application launcher from the menu

From here, I had issues with the icons/descriptions to show. To fix this, I did

5. Move matlab.desktop to the shared applications folder

sudo mv ~/.local/share/applications/matlab.desktop /usr/share/applications

sudo is required since the root folder is protected

[Arslan Yahya]

You can skip step 5., if you remember the '/' in the start of "/usr/local/MATLAB/RXXXXx/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png"

Answer 5

[Eric]

If you're using Ubuntu, see this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MATLAB

Answer 6

[Julian Zimmer]

The following trick worked for me:

Suppose <install>/MATLAB is the folder where you installed MATLAB and you are using zsh as your preferred shell:

1. download the MATLAB logo from Wikipedia and save it as <install>/MATLAB/logo.png

2. go to ~/bin and create the following shell script and call it matlab:

#!/usr/bin/zsh
<install>/MATLAB/bin/matlab -desktop &

3. make matlab shell script executable

chmod +x matlab

4. in /usr/local/applications, create matlab.desktop (you have to be root). If there are other people using the same system use the personal applications folder of your respective distribution

#!/usr/bin/zsh 
[Desktop Entry]
Name=MATLAB
Exec= /home/<yourUsername>/bin/matlab 
Icon=<install>/MATLAB/logo.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Development;Math;Science;Education;

This will add MATLAB to your Menu and Application Starter.

5. Copy the file matlab.desktop file to your Desktop folder

[Steve Grobler]

a rather complicated solution to do something so simple!! Its no wonder Linux is not catching on :(

Answer 7

[Taran Sachdeva]

The problem is actually with creating an icon in Ubuntu itself more than anything else. Solution from Julian is very close to the working icon solution however, the number of steps for the icon can be further reduced to only two steps (at least in Ubuntu 16.04.2).

1. Install gksudo: The reason you want to install this is because you will be turning off the terminal when you create the icon. This is a small graphical interface with a forced sudo backend (more on that later)

sudo apt-get install gksudo

2. create icon: open terminal and enter the following command

sudo gedit ~/.local/share/applications/matlab.desktop

a blank text editor will open up. In that editor paste the following set and save

[Desktop Entry]
Name=MATLAB
Type=Application
Exec=gksudo -S "<matlab location>/matlab -desktop" 
Terminal=false
Icon=<icon location>
Comment=MATLAB
Categories=Development;IDE;

if you search for "MATLAB" now you will see an icon that can be dragged and dropped to the launcher (Ubuntu's equivilant for windows taskbar) or desktop.

the "<matlab location>" is a placeholder for where your matlab installation is stored. By default, it should be store in the /usr/local/MATLAB/.....

the "<icon location>" is a placeholder for where the matlab icon should be stored. It can be a .png,.ico or .xmp .

Comments on what is going on in the background:

1. The gksudo is running the sudo as its backend (https://linux.die.net/man/1/gksudo), if your linux box has a password, it will ask you for it when you click the icon you have created using the above instruction. Since we turned the terminal off (line 5) there will be no way for you to enter this password and matlab will keep crashing. gksudo provides a GUI interface that will allow the user to input his/her password.

2. matlab -desktop, forces matlab to run in desktop mode with the full matlab shell

[gorilla3]

hi,

what is the file that we need to open in "usr/local/MATLAB/..." there are many files there and I don't know which to select

[Mohsen Malayjerdi]

Hi, you need to address like this:

usr/local/MATLAB/R2019b/bin/matlab

but you should consider your version. The run file is on the bin folder

Answer 8

[Thaddeus Song En Low]

A little bit late to the train, but an alternative that one can use, not only for matlab but for other scripts also, for those in Ubuntu.

1) Install "alacarte"

    sudo apt-get install alacarte

2) Run alacarte and select "new item". Provide the command (ie. the matlab script) and name. You can also provide a logo by clicking on an image file. If you don't have a logo, just download one off the web.

You can now launch matlab without a terminal.

[gorilla3]

Thank you very much, I tried but I get an error message during the installation:

E: invalid operation alacarte

[gorilla3]

I managed to install it and it does launch but it crashes immediately.

[Salma Omer]

sorry, but how can I run alacarte??

Answer 9

[Rachel Allcock]

Fairly straightforward using Xubuntu 18.04 (XFCE) using the menu edit function with the command path:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2019a/bin/matlab

but the key is to check the "Run in Terminal" box otherwise it won't start. You'll see the Terminal run in the background but it launches the full desktop.

Answer 10

[Zoltán Gál]

Update for 2023:

Matlab R2023b Linux installer still does not create a shortcut which is annoying. However, when making one manually, Mint 21 Cinnamon offers a MatLab icon among the default icons. So it took literally 20 seconds to solve this minor annoyance in life. Also, the Mint icon is stylized and I think it fits better than the default, so it's a win for me.

Answer 11

[James]

13 years since the original post, MATLAB still does not automatically create a shortcut on Linux.

The mysterious -desktop flag requirement makes it even more irritating for the first time user (on Linux).

Answer 12

[Martin]

I am trying to do the same, basically going in to the terminal each time is very inconvenient. Is there a way I can make a button to click rather than terminal?

[Martin]

got this sorted now. thanks

Answer 13

[Mark]

For Fedora, I made some packages packages:

https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/hmaarrfk/useful_launchers/

You may also want to edit the file `/usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXX/resources/MATLAB/en/branding.xml`, the keys with IDE_TITLE so that it matches up with the icon correctly. I mostly didn't want to create many different packages everytime matlab changes their Title.

Result:

Answer 14

[kinblu]

After launching it from the terminal, I clicked on its icon in the Launcher and then selected "Add to Dash". Voila! (on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS)

Answer 15

[Qianqian Fang]

The launcher approach does not work properly after I upgraded Ubuntu from 14.04 to 16.04. Basically, all envrionment variables defined in my ~/.bashrc are not inheriented in the MATLAB environment, making it impossible to link to libraries in the non-standard locations, such as libcudart etc.

This did work well in Ubuntu 14.04. Is this a known problem?

thanks

Answer 16

[Thomas Friedrich]

For those struggeling with the environment variables / library location setup: The solution I am using now, is to use a bash script instead of the classical launcher. In this bash script the environment variables can be set prior to actually running matlab. For CUDA-10.0 the following would work:

#!/bin/bash

export CUDA_PATH=/usr/local/cuda-10.0
export CUDA_HOME=$CUDA_PATH
export CUDA_BIN_PATH=$CUDA_PATH/bin
export CUDA_LIB_PATH=$CUDA_PATH/lib64

# set PATH so it includes users private bin directories
PATH=$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH
PATH=/usr/bin:$PATH
PATH=$MATLAB_DIR:$PATH
PATH=$MATLAB_BIN:$PATH
PATH=$CUDA_BIN_PATH:$PATH

export PATH

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$CUDA_LIB_PATH:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2019b/bin/glnxa64/MATLAB -desktop

Saving that script as 'run19b' in some place the OS is looking for binaries, one can then create a launcher like that:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=MATLAB R2019b
Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2019b/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png
Path=/home/thomas
Exec=run19b
Terminal=false

Obviously this approach can be extended to whatever library one would want to add and I guess it'll work on most Linux distros. I tested it on Mint 19 (Ubuntu 18.04).

Answer 17

[Hernan Mojica]

Once time you have Matlab installed, for Ubuntu 21.04 follow nexts steps :

• Open a comand terminal.
• Create a desktop shorcout :

nano ~/Desktop/Matlab

• Copy-paste bellow lines:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=MATLAB
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/./matlab
Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/resources/coreui/matlab/splash.png
Terminal=false

• Go to the path /Desktop in the terminal and copy-paste the following:

chmod +x Matlab

[Rajat Bathla]

followed exactly for ubuntu 21 and did not work.

[Vincent Plikat]

Followed it exactly for ubuntu 21 and it seemed to work, but when I wanted to open it, only the start MATLAB image was shown and then nothing happened.

I changed Terminal=true and it worked. Now an extra terminal is opened, but that does not bother me. It maybe actually nice, since error messages and warnings could help understand stuff

[Calin Bira]

Make sure you call it with the -desktop parameter eg:

Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/matlab -desktop

This parameter, did the trick for me in Linux

[Piero Mana]

This was essential, thank you!

[VC]

Following the guide here - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/MATLAB#Desktop_entry

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Terminal=false
MimeType=text/x-matlab
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R20xyz/bin/matlab -desktop
Name=MATLAB
Icon=matlab
Categories=Development;Math;Science
Comment=Scientific computing environment
StartupNotify=true

This works for me (Fedora 36). The one suggest by @Hernan Mojica leads to a crash post splash screen.

Answer 18

[li]

在 matlab.desktop中添加 StartupWMClass=sun-awt-X11-XFramePeer 即可