Why do my FIGURE, PLOT and other graphics windows do not show up ?

MATLAB 7.2 (R2006a) starts up successfully on my machine. However, when I try to bring up figure windows with PLOT, FIGURE, or similar commands, the figure windows are not displayed.

I have tried to force MATLAB to use Native Figures, and also tried to start MATLAB without the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), but the figure windows do not come up.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

MATLAB 7.2 (R2006a) requires that the display resolution support at least 16-bit color. If the system display adapter is not capable of at least this bit-depth, figure windows will not be displayed. The following warning will be displayed when MATLAB 7.2 (R2006a) is started on a machine with the display adapter set to use a bit depth less than 16-bit color.

 MATLAB only supports a screen depth of 16 or higher (Truecolor.)

 MATLAB is running in headless mode.  Figure windows will not be displayed.

To check the display adapter resolution, right click on the Windows desktop, select properties in the pop-up menu. In the dialog box that pops up, select the Settings tab, and change the color resolution property to be atleast 16-bit.

Now restart MATLAB and verify that figure windows come up as expected.