Robert Scullin

While attempting to activate MATLAB r2009a (Student Edition) on Snow Leopard, I ran into the following error:

There was an unexpected exception:
Can't load library:
/ Applications/ MATLAB_R2009aSV.app/ / bin/ maci64/ libactivation.jnilib 
See the log file
(/ var/ folders/ mt/ mtOPDyw7HAan0obU4100xU+++TI/ -Tmp-/ TMW_svact_robert.log) for more details.

Installing MATLAB worked fine, however, without activation, MATLAB wouldn’t launch. After much searching, I found a solution on MATLAB’s site. The solution posted by MathWorks is to run the activation utility using the 32bit version of Java rather than Snow Leopard’s default of 64bit Java. This can be done by opening the Java Preferences utility ( /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.app in Snow Leopard) and dragging the 32bit version of Java for Applications to the top of the list — it should look like the following screenshot.

At this point, you can launch MATLAB and activate it. Once MATLAB is activated, you can revert the changes you made in the Java Preferences App (either drag the 64bit version back to the top or click ‘Restore Defaults’).

At this point, everything should work. You’ll need to repeat the above steps if you ever have to run the activation utility again; however, MATLAB will run just fine with the 64bit version of Java being the default version.

Best of luck getting MATLAB running, and if you have questions/issues feel free to post a comment.