Wondering why parpool takes 18-20 minutes to start the first time in R2014b

I have a four-core machine (i7-2600) running Windows 7 and MATLAB R2014b. Previously, starting four workers with matlabpool took 30-60s or so. Now, when I first try to open a parallel pool (with either parpool or the deprecated matlabpool) it takes nearly 18-20 minutes. If I then close and open the pool again without restarting MATLAB it doesn't take nearly as long (more like what it used to be with 2011b, 2012b, etc. - didn't use 2013b or any 'a' releases much).

Can anyone help me speed this up? It's a real work blocker.

Thanks, Randy

[Edric Ellis]

Did anything change about where you're installing MATLAB? Does it matter how many workers you start up? Did anything change about how your MATLAB is being licensed? (I don't see this behaviour here, so I suspect you might need to contact MathWorks support for help with this).

[Randall]

This is in a university environment where everyone launches MATLAB from a single network location. I'll probably have to work it out with the IT folks then. Just was wondering if this was common or something with a well-known fix. Thanks.

[Edric Ellis]

Hm yes, network installations can suffer in this regard. If you have the option to install locally, I would definitely recommend that.