How do I install additional toolboxes into an existing installation of MATLAB?

New toolboxes have just been added to my license. How do I install additional toolboxes into an existing installation of MATLAB?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

To install new toolboxes, rerun the MathWorks installer to add any additional products not currently included in your installation.

For instructions on installing products using the MathWorks Installer, see the following article:

How do I install MATLAB or other MathWorks Products?

Before running the MathWorks installer to install an additional toolbox, please keep in mind:

• Toolboxes must match the release of MATLAB they are installed into, e.g. you cannot install a toolbox for MATLAB R2014b into MATLAB R2015a.
• If installing the toolboxes offline, the installation files must match the update version of MATLAB, e.g. R2020a Update 2 Installation Files can not be used to install a toolbox to R2020a Update 3 MATLAB. 
• MATLAB must be closed in order to run the installer.
• The MathWorks installer will install new toolboxes in the default MATLAB installation folder. If you installed MATLAB somewhere other than the default folder, you will need to select the folder where MATLAB is installed when prompted for the MATLAB installation location.
• During installation, you may be prompted to overwrite any existing products. If prompted, opt to skip installation of any existing products.
• For R2019b and older, the activation process will begin after installation. You need to activate your products in order to use them.
• If the computer is not connected to the internet and you are using a File Installation Key to install the toolboxes, you will need to obtain an updated File Installation Key, License File, and the installation files. See the following article for more information: How can I install MATLAB or other MathWorks products on an offline machine?

[Victor]

Hello, Is it possible to update one toolbox to a newer version without updating Matlab ? For instance, I'm running r2013a and I'ld like to update my Instrument Control toolbox to the newest version without changing anything else.

Additional difficulties is that I have no internet connection on the computer I'm working with, and I can interact with the Terminal only (linux).

Thanks a lot !

[Walter Roberson]

Sorry, Victor, No, toolboxes can only be purchased for a licensed version of MATLAB. Sometimes this is "just because that's how we do business", and sometimes it is because the toolbox uses features not present in earlier MATLAB. And part of it is not wanting to support all of the combinations: it gets very time consuming and expensive to run all of the validations against multiple earlier versions of MATLAB.

[Alexey Petrov]

There are sometimes good reasons to stick with old version of matlab, as regressions might break the existing codebase. Inability to add toolboxes to old versions is quite limiting.

[Walter Roberson]

Additional note: on MS Windows, you might need to Run as Administrator to do the installations and write to the correct files. On Linux, you might need to sudo to run the installer and write to the correct files. On MacOS, the installer will prompt for access.

[Florian Dignath]

For our "individual" licences R2016b on Windows 10 OS something else was necessary a f t e r the installation as described above:

1.) Update Toolbox Path Cache:

In menu Home->Preferences->General

click on button: Update Toolbox Path Cache

and leave via "OK".

2.) Update paths:

In menu Home->Set Path

click on button: Default

and leave via "save"

Otherwise, the toolboxes were not available after installation.

[Bryan]

Cheers Florian, your steps fixed the problem for me. Similar weirdness on Ubuntu with 2019b.

Every time I download a new toolbox (through the official add-on installer), I have to go through all the steps you stated to make them appear. That makes the new toolbox appear, but of course wipes out my own custom paths, so then I have manually re-add my own paths again. And to think one of the reasons we use Matlab is because it is supposed to be better organised than Python, R or Julia.

I must make sure that next time I install Matlab that I select all the correct toolboxes from the beginning, so I don't have to go through this mess.

[Shweta Singh]

@walter thanks for telling 'sudo' command for LInux. thanks @mathworks_staff it worked.

[Albert Piersson]

I use 2019a version. However I am running Matlab installer 2019a to install GUI toolbox and Widgets, but do not see them showing up for selection. Anything wrong?? Further, Options for Yes to all, No to all, Yes,and No to overwrite Matlab showed on the screen. Which is the appropriate to choose so that I don't lose the previously installed Toolboxes in other programs installed via Matlab? Quite confusing!

[Cody Lamke]

Hello,

For information on why some products may not be showing, please refer to the following article:

Why are some of the products on my license not appearing in the MATLAB installer?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/158206-why-are-some-of-the-products-on-my-license-not-appearing-in-the-matlab-installer

If you are still experiencing this issue, please contact MathWorks support:

https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

-Cody Lamke

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

In sufficiently new versions of MATLAB, there is an additional installation method for Mathworks toolboxes that you have already licensed. The method also works with a lot of the contributions in the File Exchange.

In the command window, click on "Add-Ons", which is most of the way to the right on the ribbon of widgets. In the menu that pops up from there, click on "Get Add-Ons". This will bring up the Add-On Explorer

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/get-add-ons.html

You can then use the search box to search for the Mathworks toolbox you want. A list of matching entries will be shown to you. Click on the entry you want to be shown details. On that window, there will be a button to trigger installation.

If you are installing a MATLAB Product, then the Add-On Explorer will warn you that it needs to shut down MATLAB. You can take that opportunity to save anything you need saved. You can then continue. MATLAB will shut down, the installer will be launched, and you will confirm installation and proceed.

If you are installing something from the File Exchange, then MATLAB will not need to shut down.

[Guancheng Yao]

This is the correct one, thanks.

[Felix Fiedler]

Interestingly enough, the search doesn't work as desired ... searching "Simscape" does show only "Simscape - Electrical".

I find the desired "Simscape - Fluids", however, when browsing through the 100+ Toolboxes provided by Mathworks.

[Ali AlSaibie]

This should be made as the default accepted answer.

[Bryan]

This doesn't work in Linux.

The installed add-ons show up in the add-on manager but aren't added to the path and don't show up in:

ver

I could of course add the path manually, but the Signal Processing Toolbox (in may case) has so many subfolders that I am unsure which ones to add and which ones not to.

I'm guessing it's some kind of permissions thing when running Add-on manager (Matlab consistently fails with handling Linux permissions correctly) and it doesn't have permission to modify the path definition file. However, I have no idea where add-on manager program is stored, so can't run it as sudo.

EDIT:

Ok, so I found the problem. My pathdef.m is in /home/myusername. I had to move it there in the past due Matlab permission issues. The Matlab Add-On manager assumed that my pathdef.m is still in the default location /usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/toolbox/local and created one there with the new toolbox information. So I merged the new entries of the latter into the former. Would be handy if the Add-On manager was aware of the fact that users may have moved their pathdef.m. I think that would solve the issue.

[Ali Madani]

This should be the accepted answer!

[Arwel]

On Linux, you need admin privelliges for a lot of things. So I updated toolboxes by running 'sudo ./install' from the matlab directory. Also, launching Matlab with sudo resolves the pathdef issues.

[Farhan Khan]

where to write this command?

[Walter Roberson]

If you are referring to the sudo then that is for Linux only, and you would only need to use a terminal (or console) session, use cd to change your directory to the directory where your MATLAB installation software has been downloaded, and give the sudo command there. This is not inside matlab at all. https://www.howtogeek.com/140679/beginner-geek-how-to-start-using-the-linux-terminal/

[Ana]

I am unable to get add-ons via the method above. Matlab returned the error:

Error using strsplit

Too many input arguments.

I've recently installed Matlab R2021a about a month ago and at the time, the "add-ons" button worked well. But now it does not. Any possible reason why this occurs and what else can I do to get the add-ons (toolboxes) without re-installing Matlab?

[Walter Roberson]

@Ana

What shows up for

which -all strsplit

I suspect you have a third-party strsplit(). You can experiment with

restoredefaultpath; rehash toolboxcache

and then trying the install again.

[Ana]

@Walter Roberson Thank you for your reply. I think the strsplit issue is resolved now but when I tried to click the Add-On button MATLAB returned another error:

Dot indexing is not supported for variables of this type.

Error in matlab.internal.addons.AddOnsWindow/bringToFront (line 71)

obj.webwindow.bringToFront();

Error in matlab.internal.addons.Explorer/bringToFront (line 65)

obj.addOnsWindowInstance.bringToFront();

Error in matlab.internal.addons.launchers.showExplorer (line 134)

matlab.internal.addons.Explorer.getInstance.bringToFront;

[Walter Roberson]

@Ana

I find hints that you might be using an older R2020a update, and that upgrading to the latest R2020a update might help; https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/582218-r2020a-update-4-does-not-work

[Ana]

@Walter Roberson Thank you for your reply. I thought it might be an update but my Matlab (R2021a) shows that there are no new updates. I've contacted MathWorks support (RE the error) but the steps they provided did not resolve the issue either. Very strange... (unless my laptop is the problem)

[Mauro Maggioni]

it appears you have to install each additional add-on one at a time...restarting matlab...repeat till you add all the add-ons you need....

Answer 3

[David Verrelli]

The answer by the MathWorks Support Team focusses on Toolboxes that are supplied and licensed by MathWorks. (Which also appeared to be the concern represented in the Original Post.)

There are also many third-party Toolboxes available — often freely — such as on MATLAB Central. There are key differences with these products:

1. Licensing is different.

2. AFAIK, they are not handled by the MATLAB installer or Licence Manager.

3. From statements on MATLAB Central and elsewhere online, it appears that third-party Toolboxes are typically not 'locked' to a specific version of MATLAB. Presumably this issue for the MathWorks's own proprietary Toolboxes is more of a licensing issue. (Of course, occasionally compatibility issues may arise when core MATLAB commands are deprecated or otherwise modified between release versions.)

4. (a) Typically, users are advised to copy the third-party Toolbox to a local folder of the user's choice, and then add that folder to the MATLAB path. See e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3389545/how-to-install-toolbox-for-matlab

(b) A newer feature packages the third-party Toolbox as a *.mltbx file. Example: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/41594-medical-image-processing-toolbox. These are pseudo-self installing. In a Windows environment, simply double-click this file after saving locally, and a MATLAB Toolbox installation GUI will pop up to handle the process. However, even after successful installation the third-party Toolbox is not listed when issuing the ver command. Rather, the third-party Toolboxes can be inspected (and uninstalled) from the Home menu by clicking the Add-Ons button (in the Resources group) and choosing Manage Custom Toolboxes. Behind the scenes, the third-party Toolbox files are extracted (by default) to %MATLABStartUpFolder%\Toolboxes ( cf. 'userpath' [[1]] ), with a file 'toolboxFolders.txt' created that appears to list the relevant paths for installed third-party Toolboxes.

—DIV

[[1]] https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/matlab-startup-folder.html

[Zeynab Mousavikhamene]

I used the instruction above but could not install jsonlab toolbox: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/33381-jsonlab-a-toolbox-to-encode-decode-json-files

Any suggestion?

[Colin Fraser]

Hi Zenyab,

This article refers to official MATLAB Toolboxes. What you are trying to install looks to be a support package. You can download and install those within MATLAB through the Add-On Manager.

Answer 4

[B K]

Could you please be a little more specific about the following point:

If you already have MATLAB installed and want to add 1 new toolbox, is it then possible to do this downloading only the new toolbox and installing it, or does one have to download MATLAB together with all the toolboxes already installed plus the new toolbox - and then install everything again.

That is, is there an incremental toolbox installation feature or do you always reinstall the entire installation.

The answer should reflect all versions, but I am specifically interested in R2013a. In addition, I have a DVD. Trying the normal installation procedure, I would have expected the installation program to return specifying which toolboxes that are already loaded and asking if I wanted to add or remove some. This does not seem to be the case. It looks like you reinstall everything you specify, so you have to rememebr to specify the toolboxes you already have installed.

[Scott]

Hi B K,

If you are installing from a DVD, if you select "Custom" when prompted about your installation type, you will be able to select or unselect which toolboxes you want to install. However, the installer will not tell you which toolboxes are already loaded.

You can see which toolboxes are already loaded from within MATLAB. The "ver" command will output which toolboxes are already installed, but you need to run this and save it before running the installer since MATLAB cannot be running while you run the MATLAB installer.

However, there's no harm in reinstalling toolboxes which are already installed. It just takes a little more time.

Regards,

-Scott

MathWorks Installation & Licensing Support

[Walter Roberson]

If you do select a toolbox that you already have installed, then the installer will ask you to confirm that you want to overwrite it; it offers a convenient "No to All" option to quickly allow you to select just the toolboxes that are not already installed.

[hammad hamad]

Hi.

I already installed trial version of R2020b. but most of toolboxes are not installed like Antennas toolbox..is there any way to install which toolbox I need without remove matlab and install it again?

Thanks,,

Answer 5

[Prasobhkumar P. P.]

It's an old thread, still thought to answer it.

Initiate the installation as normal, select only the check box corresponding the tool box you want to install. You can see "installed" against your already existing tool boxes and modules. Good luck

Answer 6

[Kevin Huitema]

L.S>

We just purchased an extra toolbox for Matlab and want to deploy this to our workstations. Is there a way for a network admin to Deploy this toolbox to our workstations without remove/reinstall Matlab completely or redirecting the user to Mathworks.com

regards Henk Croijmans

Answer 7

[salah SALEM]

please how to add useful ones in matlab like hmm and n gram

[salah SALEM]

matlab 2015

[Walter Roberson]

Search the File Exchange for the toolbox and click on the Download link. Unzip the file into a convenient directory that is not under the MATLAB installation directory. If it is a single file then you probably need to have MATLAB open the file, by finding it in the Folder window in MATLAB and double-clicking. If it is a directory of files, then use pathtool to add the directory to your MATLAB path.

Answer 8

[Fletcher]

Can someone clarify if its necessary to download all the .zip files for the toolboxes to the local install DIR, or can the installer login with my creds and using the license pull all those via my proxied internet connection?

Because I am not seeing no toolboxes to install with that method.

I am however able to login with the same creds on mathworks.com and download all 3.9Gb of .zip files using that same license.

Is the internet install broken somehow?

thanks

I downloaded all 3.9Gb of the toolbox .zip files and verified via strace the linux installer is O_RDONLY opening them all yet failing to list them for installation. I was allowed to download them, yet the installer fails to list them for installation. This feels like the installer is not seeing the right license file. I will open a case with support.

thanks

Answer 9

[Szabó-Takács Beáta]

Dear All, I would also have a question in connection with install new toolbox. I downloaded the weaclim toolbox. I would like use it. How I can install this toolbox?

[Walter Roberson]

weaclim is a File Exchange Contribution. You download the .zip, unpack it into a directory of its own, and use

pathtool

to add the directory to your MATLAB path.

Answer 10

[Jeremy Rutman]

I installed ml recently (after being forced to install a gui since the headless install procedure is hopeless) , now need to install a package. I hit ./install and get

Preparing installation files...
Installing ...
Finished

which doesn't allow installation of anything more...

Answer 11

[vertulonix vertu]

random To use 'random', the following product must be licensed, installed, and enabled: Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox

the above random commands and some funtions not working 2017b

please reply

Answer 12

[Sanket Ulagadde]

Is it possible for me to install MATLAB version R2018a when i already have R2017b installed on my PC? If yes, how? Please help. Thank you.

[islam dib]

post a new topic, this is an other topic

thank u

Answer 13

[Justin Ghetti]

Yes, it is possible to install multiple versions of MATLAB since each release creates its own directory. For more information on installation, please see the link below.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/install/install-products.html

Answer 14

[Jorge PARDIÑAS-MIR]

I'm using version R2017a and having a campus license. I just clicked on the Add-Ons icon on the bar menu from MATLAB and choose Get Add-Ons. It opens a window showing the different products you can add-on, toolboxes included, and all you have to do is click on it. It starts to download and install, very easy in my case.

Answer 15

[Mikhail]

If I want to add toolboxes to MATLAB installation that has updates installed (like R2018b Update 1), it refuses to install from original iso (which is understandable) and links to non-existing MATLAB Answer:

Text: The specified folder has R2018b Update 1 installed. To add products to this installation, see this MATLAB Answer.

[Andreas Antes]

I am facing the same issue. What is the intended way of Mathworks to install further toolboxes?

Reinstall everything?

[Walter Roberson]

If installing from the add-on explorer does not work then Yes you might need to reinstall r2018b without update 1.

I had a query in to Mathworks about why people could not download Update 1. The response yesterday was that it was withdrawn due to bugs in the installer .

[Mikhail]

It's not about Add-on explorer or problems downloading Update 1.

It's about inability to install additional toolboxes from original iso after installing Update X.

[Walter Roberson]

The bugs in the R2018b Update 1 installer potentially lead to corrupted MATLAB configurations.

[Mikhail]

@Walter you are actually quite right. This doesn't happen on R2018a Update 6, for instance.

Which raises a very different kind of issue. If MATLAB installation is at some update level, installing additional toolboxes from original iso may (and most definitely will) lead to inconsistent state of installation (e.g. older libraries/files mixed with newer ones).

As of R2018a, installer doesn't warn you about this nor it errors out.

As of R2018b... We don't know yet what is going to happen, since no update has been officially rolled out.

[Walter Roberson]

I would tend to think that when you go to install from ISO, if you agree to have the installer check for newer versions, that it will detect the updates. But I do not know that for sure as I have only installed a couple of Update * and was not paying attention to this factor.

Answer 16

[Muhammad Usman Gul]

After installation latest Matlab R2019a, I have installed selected toolbox at that time. Now I would like to install all other toolbox. Please let me know how to select all remaining toolbox at a time instead of one-by-one install.

[Walter Roberson]

"To install new toolboxes, rerun the MATLAB installer to add any additional products not currently included in your installation.."

If you use the Add-On Explorer root then you can only install one toolbox at a time.

Answer 17

[Anil Kumar]

Follow these steps to add toolbox to already installed Matlab

1) rerun the Matlab installer

2) login with mathwork/use a file insttalation key(without internet)

3) there appears the additional toolbox (added to your licence)

4) select this and install.

Regards,

[salah SALEM]

please how to add useful ones in matlab like hmm and n gram matlab 2015