Why do I get an unexpected exception when activating MATLAB 7.8 (R2009a) or earlier on a Mac OS X machine?

Date Last Modified: Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Solution ID:		1-8GS5S1
Product:		MATLAB
Reported in Release:		R2009a
Platform:		Mac Intel
Operating System:		All Mac Intel

 

Subject:

Why do I get an unexpected exception when activating MATLAB 7.8 (R2009a) or earlier on a Mac OS X machine?

Problem Description:

When I attempt to activate MATLAB on Mac OS X, I get the error:
There was an unexpected exception:
null
See the log file (/tmp/aws.log) for more details.
The log file has the following information:
MATHWORKS ACTIVATION IS STARTING UP.
java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: Cant load library: /Applications/MATLAB_R2008b.app/bin/maci64/libinstutil.jnilib
com.mathworks.instutil.NativeUtility.(NativeUtility.java:36)
com.mathworks.instutil.MachineInfo.(MachineInfo.java:40)
com.mathworks.activationclient.model.ActivationModelImpl.loadNativeLib(ActivationModelImpl.java:216)
com.mathworks.activationclient.model.ActivationModelImpl.getMachineInfo(ActivationModelImpl.java:189)
com.mathworks.activationclient.view.ApplicationViewImpl.getMachineInfo(ApplicationViewImpl.java:200)
com.mathworks.activationclient.view.ApplicationViewImpl.showGUI(ApplicationViewImpl.java:79)
com.mathworks.activationclient.controller.ApplicationControllerImpl.start(ApplicationControllerImpl.java:99)
com.mathworks.activationclient.ActivationApplication.main(ActivationApplication.java:31)
null
com.mathworks.activationclient.view.ApplicationViewImpl.showGUI(ApplicationViewImpl.java:79)
com.mathworks.activationclient.controller.ApplicationControllerImpl.start(ApplicationControllerImpl.java:99)
com.mathworks.activationclient.ActivationApplication.main(ActivationApplication.java:31)
How can I activate MATLAB on Mac OS X?

Solution: This issue is due to a change in the default Java version from when MATLAB R2009a was released. The activation may attempt to call 64 bit libraries, whereas MATLAB is a 32 bit application under Mac OS X. As a workaround, you can temporarily change your system's default java for applications to use the 32-bit JVM. Once you have activated, you can change it back to Java 6 (64-bit) or J2SE 5 (64-bit). To do this, open the Java Preferences application from /Applications/Utilities/Java/Java Preferences (early 10.5 releases) or /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences (10.6). Make sure you are under the "General" Section, and if there are multiple lists, the "Java Applications" list will be modified. In the section marked "Java Applications", drag the 32-bit item to the top of the list. Then close this application and restart the activation client by double clicking on the MATLAB application in your Applications directory. If you have problems during any of these steps, contact the Installation and Licensing team here: http://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us/index.html

 

Related Solutions:

• Why do I receive an "Unexpected Exception" error when attempting to activate my Student Version software?
• How do I launch the MATLAB activation client?
• How can I reactivate MATLAB Student Version R2008b or higher?

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