Is there an option for verbose or debug log file when installing MATLAB?

Been having issues with installing MATLAB R2019a (and R2018b and R2018a) and I'm wondering if the installer has any option for generating a more detailed log file?

Answer 1

[Brian Carty]

So I've got a follow up question. Under certain circumstances during a silent install, it seems like the java VM used by the MATLAB installer runs out of memory and exits, so the install fails.

Are there any options within the installer_input file or at the command line to increase the memory available to java?

[Stephen Emert]

Thank goodness, I am not the only person seeing this. I am unable to get Matlab to install on Windows 10 via SCCM due to this. I went back and forth with support about it when 2018a came out with no resolution other than "We do not support silent installations via SCCM." Was hoping it would be resolved in 2019a but still same result. Am forced to put Matlab in a thick image to deploy it..

[Brian Carty]

I'm curious, in your case have you noticed it only failing on mandatory runs?

If I run our 2019a install from the Software Center it's worked every time, but if it runs as part of a mandatory assignment, it fails.

[Stephen Emert]

Correct Brian, that seems to be my findings as well and it makes no sense!

If I make it available, and open software center and click install, it seems to install fine.

If it is started by SCCM during maintenance or even when a person is logged into the machine, it fails by running out of Java VM memory. Usually at or after assigning the file associations. The crash log, which is stored in c:\windows\system32\hs_err_pid#####.log looks like this:

#

# There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue.

# Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate 32744 bytes for ChunkPool::allocate

# Possible reasons:

# The system is out of physical RAM or swap space

# In 32 bit mode, the process size limit was hit

# Possible solutions:

# Reduce memory load on the system

# Increase physical memory or swap space

# Check if swap backing store is full

# Use 64 bit Java on a 64 bit OS

# Decrease Java heap size (-Xmx/-Xms)

# Decrease number of Java threads

# Decrease Java thread stack sizes (-Xss)

# Set larger code cache with -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=

# This output file may be truncated or incomplete.

#

# Out of Memory Error (allocation.cpp:273), pid=11188, tid=0x0000000000002a5c

#

# JRE version: Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (8.0_181-b13) (build 1.8.0_181-b13)

# Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (25.181-b13 mixed mode windows-amd64 compressed oops)

# Failed to write core dump. Minidumps are not enabled by default on client versions of Windows

#

--------------- T H R E A D ---------------

Current thread (0x00000000171cf000): JavaThread "C2 CompilerThread1" daemon [_thread_in_native, id=10844, stack(0x0000000017b90000,0x0000000017c90000)]

Stack: [0x0000000017b90000,0x0000000017c90000]

[error occurred during error reporting (printing stack bounds), id 0xc0000005]

Native frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code, C=native code)

Current CompileTask:

C2:1282695 5950 4 org.apache.lucene.codecs.BlockTreeTermsWriter$TermsWriter::writeBlock (1050 bytes)

Either way, the system process is performing the installation so I am not sure why it works as available vs required. Works fine on Windows 7.

[Brian Carty]

Yea, that's consistent with what I've seen. It drove me nuts with our 2018a/b deployments because the only thing I had to go on was the matlab install log, and as you mentioned, it cut off after the file associations. And sometimes those installs would work. So I would guess they just sometimes completed before it ran out of memory. R2019a I guess is now big enough that it's unlikely to finish.

From what I can tell what happens is that the installer runs out of memory before it finishes copying in all the files. Specifically it fails to copy in the uninstall executable. Then after it creates file associations it tries to register the uninstaller. Since that doesn't exist, it fails and the MATLAB installer exits.

Interesting to know it still works on Windows 7. I'd guess mandatory installs in Windows 10 are run in a background phase or something where memory is limited.

[Brian Carty]

I pinged MATLAB support about this again (and didn't mention SCCM at all). They confirmed that you can't change anything for the memory allocate to java.

I also tested manually increasing the size of the Windows paging file on a machine where the install was failing (bumped it up to 8GB minimum). The attempt after that succeeded. I've only tried this once so I can't guarantee it's an absolute fix, but it's something. Changing the paging file requires a reboot though, so it's not really practical to use in a SCCM deployment.

[Elke Zimmermanns]

We are seeing the same issue on our lab machines with the silent SCCM install.

I'd really appreciate a solution to this as it is a major hassle which we never had on Windows 7 machines.

I've been able to install on most of our machines by splitting the install into three parts and making them depended.

I'm using installer input files to install:

1. MATLAB, MATLAB Compiler and MATLAB Compiler SDK first.

2. All of Simulink with Control System Toolbox, MATLAB Coder and MATLAB Report Generator.

3. All other toolboxes we are licensed for.

Answer 2

[Shashank Sharma]

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/101927-where-are-the-matlab-installation-and-activation-log-files-located

The answer to the above question contains the location of the logs created during matlab installation.

It also allows you to force creation of log files using command line.

[Brian Carty]

Yes I know of those options. I was wondering if there were additional options for a more detailed log.

Answer 3

[Stephen Emert]

In case anyone else comes here for info related to our discussion above, there is also a thread about this problem on Reddit:

Reddit Thread

No answers to be found there but a lot of things were tried. So save yourself some time and read through it. Do not reinvent the (broken) wheel trying to solve the issue.

[Matt Seng]

For future readers, the Reddit thread was updated with a solution. The OP now links to this Technet thread in which the one and only Jason Sandys provides some workarounds.

The one that worked for me is checking the "run install as 32-bit process" box in the SCCM application's deployment type's properties.

Answer 4

[Brian Carty]

I've created a thread on Microsoft Technet about this issue, https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ConfigMgrAppManagement/thread/f499555e-35a7-44ae-8e35-8fc672b2c5ad/

Also, for now I've adjusted the powershell script I use in my R2019a deployment so that it will create a one-time scheduled task that will run 3 minutes later to install MATLAB. Not ideal but it should work.

Param (
       [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
       [string]$Release = ''
       )

$installDIR = "C:\Program Files\Matlab\$Release"
$registry = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Matlab $Release"

#Check if program directory already exists and delete it if it does
if(Test-Path $installDIR){
    try{
        Remove-Item $installDIR -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction Stop}
    catch{
        exit 63}
    }

Start-Process -FilePath .\setup.exe -ArgumentList '-inputfile installer_input.txt' -Wait

$setup = "powershell.exe"
$arg = "-nologo -File install-matlab.ps1 -Release $Release"
$user = "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM"
$name = "MATLAB $Release"

#Check if MATLAB install succeeded. If not, create one-time scheduled task to install it.
if ((Get-ItemProperty -Path $registry -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).DisplayName -eq $name) {
    exit 0
    }else{
        $Task = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $setup -Argument $arg -WorkingDirectory $pwd
        $TaskTrigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Once -At (get-date).AddSeconds(180)
        Register-ScheduledTask -Action $Task -Trigger $TaskTrigger -User $user -RunLevel Highest -TaskName "Install MATLAB $Release" -Description "One-time task to install MATLAB $Release if SCCM deployment failed."
        }