MatlabR2021a & R2021b does not work with macOS Big Sur

I am trying to use MatlabR2021a on a macOS Big Sur machine. However, each time I try to run script or want to plot something, the process "sandboxd" starts to use up all my CPU such that Matlab either hangs or works only very delayed. What could be a possible cause for that?

[Walter Roberson]

The following probably is not the cause of your difficulty... but it just might be, or might be suggestive. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5003332

[Edgar Abarca Morales]

I have exactly this same problem, "sandboxd" randomly interferes with Matlab running on Big Sur! Matlab then hangs or lags, making it imposssible to work.

[Walter Roberson]

Unfortunately sandboxd is imposed by Apple in Big Sur :(

[Edgar Abarca Morales]

Thank you for your answer Walter R. I ended up opening a customer support ticket but I have not yet received an answer. Just in case, do you know if it is safe to quit "sandboxd" in Big Sur from the activity monitor. It is a root process... Many thanks.

[Reisender]

I think that "sandboxd" runs when an application does not run properly (see here). It says there that "it is designed to contain damage to the system and the user’s data if an app becomes compromised". I think that it is therefore not possible to terminate this process.

I also opened a support ticket as appearently nobody knows about that problem here besides you and me.

[Walter Roberson]

@Reisender

I think you are misinterpreting.

Suppose you are doing a chemistry experiment that could potentially go wrong and produce noxious gasses. Maybe the problem only happens if something accidentally knocks over two different containers at the same time -- something that might be unlikely, but could happen, such as if a cat jumped up knocking one over and a person knocked the other over trying to catch the cat.

Now, do perform the experiment out wherever feels good at the time, and if something happens to go wrong, you rush in emergency containment equipment around it? Or do you take the time to perform the experiment inside a fume hood so that if something goes wrong the containment is already right there already?

The way that you interpreted what was written is as-if sandboxd is brought in to contain a compromised app after the compromise is detected. But that is not the case: instead, sandboxd is a way of running apps so that they are already inside the programming fumehood, protections already in place in case something happens to go wrong.

[Reisender]

Thanks for the clarification!

[Joao Nizer]

Same thing happening to me! :|

Sometimes it even gives me an error message that forces me to kill the process. I've sent the report to Mathworks, but they replied saying that they could not identify the problem: Help troubleshooting recent MATLAB crash: 04938298 ref:_00Di0Ha1u._5003q1PuOu8:ref

[Simon Fisher]

Any resolution on this Mathworks? The 2021a Update 3 doesn't fix this.

[Walter Roberson]

There is a bug report that says that some Big Sur problems can be worked around by starting MATLAB from terminal instead of dock or icon

[Matthew Slayton]

Launching MATLAB from terminal seems to do the trick! Here's the Help Center link to do that: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlabmacos.html

[Simon Fisher]

This is not fixed with the latest Update 4 either

[Simon Fisher]

Just found that this issue is not fixed in Update 5 either - still got high sandboxd after 10-20mins of running Matlab

[Reisender]

This problem still exists in R2021b! Pretty ridicolous given the fact that I was told the problem will be fixed a couple of months ago.

[Benedict Vergara]

@Matthew Slayton was correct. Follow these steps:

1. Open terminal and 'cd' into the "bin" subfolder of the MATLAB save location. (example: 'cd /Applications/MATLAB_2021b.app/bin')
2. type 'open matlab'

[Reisender]

Sorry, but this is not a fix, it is a workaround.

[Walter Roberson]

@Reisender

As outsiders... do we know that it as Mathworks bug and not a MacOS Big Sur bug?

(Though I wonder if it is related to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1520764 in which having Sandbox Logging turned on can result in high CPU time.)

[Reisender]

Thanks for the input @Walter Roberson. That could be a possibility. When reporting that bug, I was not told as to where it possibly comes from. I, and I think many others, have gotten used to start Matlab from the terminal.

What annoys me is that this still occurs in an entirely new release of Matlab. Matlab is not a free and open source product developed by people in their free time. There is a lot of money in the game, and seeing this answer below from a Staff member is kind of sad. You helped me and many others way more in that case.

[Simon Fisher]

This issue is STILL happening on Matlab 2021b. This is insane. Do we just always start Matlab from the terminal now?

[Matt Smear]

Having the same problem in 2021b, actually worse than 2021a. Often hangs for a minute before beginning to execute a script. The force quit 'sandboxd' was an effective workaround in 2021a, not in b. Running from the terminal doesn't help either. HELP

Answer 1

[Prakhar Rai]

Please go into application Info and make MATLAB_2021 run using Rosetta(selecting tick box for Rosetta),so it runs like intel based chips as MATLAB is only developed for Intel chips.

[Joao Nizer]

I am not running it in an M1 chip. Mine is still an Intel i5 processor.

[Simon Fisher]

Yeah this is not a M1-specific issue. I have the same problem using an Intel processor too.

[Reisender]

This answer is entirely useless

[Joel]

Same problems here, also with R2021b

[Simon Fisher]

Any updates on fixes for these issues from Staff ?

[Mats]

This issue does also affect macs with Intel processors in Big Sur.

Answer 2

[Yongxin Liu]

My solution is launch the Activity Monitor and kill the sandboxd process and then everything workw like a charm

[Simon Fisher]

That's not a good solution and they come back even within a session I've found