MATLAB 2020a No display available error on Ubuntu

I'm installing MATLAB 2020a on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

However when I execute in terminal with:

sudo bash install

I got error

No protocol specified
terminate called after throwing an instance of '(anonymous namespace)::DisplayError'
  what():  No display available.
Aborted

For some reason it works without using sudo

bash install

But I have to use sudo, as I need to create matlab folder in /usr/local/

How should I solve this?

[sean ale]

did u solve this?

[Mohammad Sami]

See if any of the following works for you

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/229857-why-do-i-see-preparing-installation-files-installing-finished-in-the-terminal-window-wh?s_tid=answers_rc1-1_p1_Topic

[Philippe Dreesen -ELEC-]

I had the same issue (fresh install of MATLAB R2020a on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) and was able to resolve it. Here is what I did.

Open a terminal as regular user and execute "xhost +" to allow connections to the user's X11 server

user@computer $ xhost +

>> access control disabled, clients can connect from any host

Then open a terminal as root and export the DISPLAY and run the installer:

root@computer # export DISPLAY=:0.0

root@computer # ./install

The installer flash screen appears and the software can be installed in /usr/local/MATLAB... or wherever desired.

[Rayman Vig]

Thanks @Philippe!

Works for me.

[adam ibrahim abdulla]

thanks @philippe, your solution works for me as well!

[Arne Fischer-Bühner]

Thanks again @Philippe ! same here, resolved MATLAB R2020b on CentOS 8. But had to use the legacy installer in /bin/glnxa64/install_unix_legacy since the standard installer interface would not allow me to insert my password for some unknown reason.

[Zheng Zhao]

@Philippe would you like to put answer to this question so I can accept it?

[Frederik Aidt]

Works here also. Thanks!

[Samuel Gray]

...just as well, the first time that I tried to install R2020b on CentOS8 using the standard sudo ./install it shagged the x11 configuration though admittely this is an AMD laptop with onboard AMD graphics...I reinstalled CentOS8 and now it won't even run sudo ./install. So the legacy installer seems to have finished without a problem...now if I can just actually start Matlab...

ah, so

this time I did not use sudo, just called the installer as a regular user...

still got an X glitch but only for a moment then the installer screen came up as usual.

./bin/glnxa64/install_unix_legacy -input_file=./custom_installer_input.txt

...but that won't let me install into /usr/local so sudo it is...and that won't launch the installer!

Back to regular user but installing Matlab to my home account, ok that works...

Wow it's downloading 1.241MB just for for the core Matlab code and 29 toolkits! I already have downloaded 277MB just to run the installer...must be a lot of elves running around at Mathworks writing code especially since there are so many more toolkits that I could not download with one trial license! There must be an entire business-school, engineering, computer-science and computer graphics school of stuff in Matlab now.

Anyway I am glad that this time the installer started (twice) using sudo without blowing-up the x window manager this time and forcing me t wipe & reinstall CentOS8. Which probably someone else could have fixed, but I gave up trying to fix it after a week and just started over.

Answer 1

[Alejandro Verri]

Effectively, in order to create the folders /usr/local/ you must be superuser, but the installation can and should be done with your user and avoid some know issues using root accounts with X11 video. A simple way to install it is to create the installation folders in usr/local and then change its owner (or group), before running the installer

sudo mkdir /usr/local/MATLAB
sudo mkdir /usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a
sudo chown YOUR_USERNAME /usr/local/MATLAB
sudo chown YOUR_USERNAME /usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a
./install

When the installer asks you if it should create symlinks in /usr/bin, simply change the destination to your local ~/Desktop or any other local folder and then, as superuser you just move those symlinks to the bin locations

sudo cp ~/Desktop/matlab /usr/bin
sudo cp ~/Desktop/mex /usr/bin

[Alejandro Lorite Mora]

It worked for me, but the final step should be:

sudo cp ~/Desktop/matlab /usr/bin -P
sudo cp ~/Desktop/mex /usr/bin -P

Answer 2

[Yuval Zukerman]

The response from Philippe Dreesen appears to be working:

Open a terminal as regular user and execute "xhost +" to allow connections to the user's X11 server

user@computer $ xhost +

>> access control disabled, clients can connect from any host

Then open a terminal as root and export the DISPLAY and run the installer:

root@computer # export DISPLAY=:0.0

root@computer # ./install

I was also able to install using:

sudo ./install

[Wei]

Hi, Dear Yuval.

i had a simiar proble, but when i try to excute the ./install or sudo ./install, it jump a blank window like this. do you know any way to fix this? Thanks

Answer 3

[Nick Warren]

Didn't work for me, presumably as I was SU'ing in as root, rather than logging in directly as root. This worked for me:

user@myserver:~$ xauth list
myserver/unix:11  MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1  27fbcf94c244d6946e39bd7a11d41453
myserver/unix:10  MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1  b00729a0755ddefa14a8fae6c677efd3
user@myserver:~$ echo $DISPLAY
localhost:10.0
user@myserver:~$ sudo su --login root
root@myserver:~# export DISPLAY=':10.0'

Add magic cookie for matching display - 10 in this case:

root@myserver:~# xauth add myserver/unix:10  MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1  b00729a0755ddefa14a8fae6c677efd3

Run the installer:

root@myserver:~# ~/path-to-matlab-installer/install

[Zeeshan Nadir]

Worked like a charm. Thanks so much.

[Herman Wong]

Awesome. Works like a charm instead of 'xhost +SI:localuser:root' solution others referring to.