Why do I receive License Manager Error -9?

When I try to launch MATLAB, I get the following error:

ERROR: License checkout failed. Invalid host. License Manager Error -9

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The best way to resolve a License Manager Error -9 is by reactivating MATLAB with the activation client.

Windows

The activation client is located here:

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20XXx\bin\winXX\activate_matlab.exe

Mac

• Open Finder.
• Go to "Applications".
• Right-click or control-click on the MATLAB application icon. (e.g. MATLAB_R2015b.app)
• Click on "Show Package Contents".
• Open "Activate.app".

Linux

The activation client is located here:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx/bin/activate_matlab.sh

Once you have launched the MATLAB activation client:

1. Select "Activate automatically using the internet."
2. Log into your MathWorks account.
3. Select the correct license.
4. The username field should auto-populate with the correct user name. Leave it as is.
5. Confirm the activation information.
6. Click "finish" to complete the activation process.
7. Restart MATLAB.

Still seeing a License Manager Error -9?

• The username in the license file does not match (usernames are case sensitive)
• The Host ID in the license file does not match
• You have a Designated Computer MATLAB license and MATLAB is already running under a different user account on this computer.

Confirm your Username and Host ID using the activation client:

1. Run the activation client and select "Activate manually without using the Internet."
2. Choose “I do not have a license file. Help me with the next steps.”
3. Copy your Host ID and Computer Login Name.
4. Click the back arrow 2 times and choose “Activate automatically using the Internet” then input the appropriate username.
5. Launch MATLAB using the appropriate user account.

Activation client requires elevated privileges to run? Connection error when Activating automatically? Still seeing a License Manager Error – 9?

How do I activate MATLAB without an internet connection?

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/259627

[Roosevelt]

i keep getting this error as well my company recently renamed/merged the domains, could this cause it? if so does anyone know of a fix for this?

our IT staff is stumped

[Arnaud Contet]

I learnt (the hard way) that changing a partition size also changes the Host ID.

[José Mauro Moraes]

ok, i undestand why i can't run matlab on my linux machine. I have an SNU license and my username on the machine doesn't match the license file. What should i do to correct this?

OBS.: i use ubuntu 64 bits machine. thanks,

José Mauro

[Rachael]

Hi, I just upgraded to Mac X, followed your instructions and now I get this error:

Can't load library: /Applications/MATLAB_R2009aSV.app//bin/maci64/libactivation.jnilib

What should I do next?

Thanks! Rachael

[suneel kumar Gaddam]

Hi, I am using a Dual boot laptop with Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.04 and installed student version matlab 2015a in windows.Every time after using ubuntu and logging back on windows, starting matlab throws me a licensing error. i reactivated it two times. when i am checking for host id,it is showing that i have multiple host id's .So please let me know how to solve this problem.

[Scott]

Hi Suneel,

MATLAB activation is usually smart enough to detect when a computer is dual-booting, but depending on your machine configuration it may think each OS is two different machines.

If you contact MathWorks support, we can help you configure MATLAB such that it works on both OSes:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us/

-Scott

MathWorks Installation & Licensing Support

[Lucia Bettelli]

I get this error with the student license on Windows, i need to work on a family computer and it doesn't recognise the name in my license. Please help!

[lis coffey]

I would recommend you reactivate MATLAB to your normal user account by running the "activate_matlab.sh" script in the /bin/ directory of your MATLAB installation directory, and providing your standard username when prompted.

[Darren Reynolds]

I fixed this error on my PC be re-running the activation tool (in your Windows Apps menu). When it asks for your Windows user name, be sure to give it your Windows user name, i.e. on the PC you're using right now, who are you logged in as? If this doesn't match it's going to kick you out when you launch MatLab.

[Shivaji Rao]

I installed it on my Mac Book Pro and I get the same error.

[Walter Roberson]

Max Ligthart comments

I don't see my activation tool anymore but I have the same problem. can you help me?

[Walter Roberson]

Surendar Poongavanam comments to Darren Reynolds:

This Helps ! Thanks

[Guobin Wang]

Hi guys, I have solved this problem on my laptop. My Matlab license is from my uni and this software requires a username( u have to use Matlab under this unsername's account). So I changed the name of my administor account. The ridiculous thing is that even u have changed the name(showed in start menu), the username is still the administor! A easy way to check is to open the task manager and click account on the top side. So just creat a new account whose name is same as u typed in Matlab, then it goes to work.

[gjh van erp]

Linux 64 Bit Machine, student licence [WORKED FINE]. go to matlab path cd /usr/local/MATLAB/r2016b/bin ./activate_matlab.sh login to mathworks account and make sure that linux user name is specified correctly. (only one account on linux pc is allowed to use licence.)

[Trey Boehm]

Thank you, this is exactly what I needed!

[Joseph Simmons]

+1 for gjh van erp.

[Yuchen Shang]

+1

[Purevmaa Khandsuren]

Wahahaha. Thank u so much. It's working good

[Mihail Bogojeski]

While reactivating the licence using the activate_matlab script works on my Linux machine, I still get the same error message every time I reboot the computer, and I have to reactivate the licence again. Does someone know of a way around this issue?

[Veronika]

Hi Mihail! I am having the same problem now on Ubuntu, after having had MATLAB working perfectly for a couple of months (i.e., the error message appeared only after ~ 50 days after having installed MATLAB).

Did you find out any solution for the issue?

[Walter Roberson]

Veronika, is it possible that your ethernet card changed? Or that you are using a slightly older MATLAB and your Linux is using the new universal device naming system?

[Felipe Hermana]

Hi, I can not activate Matlab. It is installed already, but it does not launch, and the link here is not being helpful enough to me so I can activate it. Would you know what can I do?

[Walter Roberson]

Contact Mathworks for free installation support.

Note: if you are using Windows 10, some people have been reporting that MATLAB will not launch for them; I do not happen to recall what the causes of that turned out to be.

[Tech Support]

Hi,

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

http://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us/

-Justin

[Walter Roberson]

See also my License Error Cheat Sheet for other causes.

[Magnus Rossen]

Yes @lis coffey -This helped me, as I accidently changed it while activating the license. Thanks!

[Stefan Sesser]

hey i have a similar problem,

I changed my OS from Windows to Ubuntu 18.04 and after installing following these instructions :( https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-matlab-on-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux ) i also get License Error -9

i reactivated the license on the linux machine several times and deactivated the old license for my windows machine online in the mathworks.com license center.

Anybody any more suggestions on what i can try?

[Walter Roberson]

In the last step where you are activating and need to tell it the name to activate for, be sure to use the same as the output of

whoami

for the user who will be using MATLAB. Do not use root as the name.

[Fiona Ecarnot]

Hi

for me non of them worked. I have uninstall MATLAB and reinstall many time. I did all ways but not work!!!!!

[Peinian Zhang]

It's useful, thanks a lot.

[Muhammad Adeen]

Thanks for the support it worked perfectly.

All you have to do is choose the username of the sudo

[Michelle Nyamai]

This worked very well. Thanks

[Shashank G]

plz activite my matlab

[Shashank G]

reactivate my matlab by using same user name

[Walter Roberson]

The volunteers who answer questions here do not have access to the licensing database. You should contact Mathworks for free installation support.

[Justin Ghetti]

Hi,

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

http://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us/

-Justin

[Nikhila Addula]

Its showing no file or directory found . Please help me with this

[Walter Roberson]

Contact Mathworks for free installation support.

[Ntagwanko Kisabanzira]

Helpful. Thanks

[Keerthivasan Gopalraj]

Works!

[Steve]

problem solved, thanks!

[Ibrokhim Sidikov]

thank you , its done

[Matteo Marchesini]

for windows 10, I can't find a match for that link Hoe do I use it?

[Walter Roberson]

Matteo, which link are you referring to as not being able to find?

[Matteo Marchesini]

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20XXx\bin\winXX\activate_matlab.exe Maybe I shouldn't call this a link but still I don't know how to use it to fix the error-9

[Walter Roberson]

For R2019b it would be

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019b\bin\win64\activate_matlab.exe

[MONWAT CHUMYEN]

thankkkk

[YOURAN WANG]

3qqqqqqq！

[Gabriella Braz]

Thank you so much!!! :-)

[Luisa Medina]

Thank!!!! T.T, you save me

[Jane Lee]

thank you！！！

[Yakub Mohamoud]

Thanks a lot. It worked magical for me.

[Javier González Santamaría]

Thanks!!!

[Jinhang Li]

Thanks a lot !!!!!!!!!!!

[Ale Galaz]

Thank you!

[roberto frattari]

thanks

[vishnu dutt]

thanks a lot!!!

[Yashar Farajpour]

Thnaks, You helped me a lot.

[Muhammad Jarkas]

thanks a lot!

[Chin Ouyang]

I can't find this in my computer.

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20XXx\bin\winXX\activate_matlab.exe

What's wrong?

[Corentin Gire]

On linux it's really weird.

in /usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/bin

after doing ./activate_matlab.sh

"./matlab" works but "sudo ./matlab" doesn't. I can't save my files.

[Walter Roberson]

You probably activated for your own username. When you sudo you temporarily become a different user.

[winfrid ge]

yes，you ARE right.thanks

[Luis Angel Puche Argumedo]

Muchas gracias, me funcionó muy en Windows 8, Matlab R2015a en mi computador de 32 bits

[Shervin Sahba]

This works for me. However, the same error seems to intermittedly reappear on the same system. I'm on a Manjaro Linux 5.4 system running R2020a via my student license.

Any idea as to what is changing my hostid? From what I understand, the hostid is tied to my network interface's MAC address... and I don't understand why that would change.

[Walter Roberson]

Any reasonably current version of MATLAB for Linux should be able to use any of its interfaces; https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/101892-what-is-a-host-id-how-do-i-find-my-host-id-in-order-to-activate-my-license

I have seen security software that randomizes the user's MAC to reduce tracking; that would interfere with license managers.

[David Riveros Rosas]

Is really neccesary to find this file in the folders tree to activate Matlab???? I´m prety sure that you can do a new, not-so-rudimentary procedure

[Fabrizio Schiano]

This worked for me on ubuntu 18.04, thanks

[Alastair Baker]

great, my License Manager Error -9 error was resolved by the following your instructions below, thank you

Windows

Typed the following into the file location bar: C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20XXx\bin\winXX\activate_matlab.exe

[Josep Fíguls Lladós]

Still working on 2020a version, thanks.

[Jeewan Humagai]

I was also facing the same problem and followed the instruction mentioned above, now its is running. Thanks a lot.

[xueyan shi]

thanks- -

[Damian Chalan]

Thanks

[Khairul Ikhwan]

thanks

[Liwei Pan]

thanks

[Kazeem Odunlami]

Thank you. No more error

[Glendon]

thanks

[Jens Wilhjelm]

Still the same problem

[Francisco Nuñez]

THANK YOUUUUUUUUUU!!!

[Colin Fraser]

@Jens Wilhjelm

If you are still experiencing this issue, please create a service request below.

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

-Colin Fraser

[Cristhian Jadan]

Ya intenté eso y me sigue saliendo el mismo problema. por por favor ayudenme

[Walter Roberson]

Cristhian Jadan : you already tried contacting Mathworks Support, but they were not able to find a solution for you?

[S Harsha Vardhan 16BEE0253]

Thanks

[Álvaro Mejía]

Thanks

[Cathy Cao]

thank you

[carlos cusi palomino]

thank you

:)

[anjan boorugu]

Thanks

[Kevin Stammen]

Thanks :)

[Eric Bañuelos Gordillo]

thank you :D

[Ajay Sharma]

Thank you very much.

[Reginald McKenzie]

Advice worked perfectly thanks

[Sergio Vides]

The solution is perfect, thank you very much.

[Shikha Singh]

thanks a lot for kind support.

[jihyun hwang]

thank you.

[Jayanth Varma]

thanks for the reply. it helped me. :-)

[Benson Tong]

Thank you!

[Tyler Tressler]

Thanks!

[Vaghul Kramadhati Venkatagiri]

Big thank you!

[Leonard Meme]

Thank You :)

[Cesar Julian Cerpa Diaz]

thanks, i did it on manajo, so that's working now

[Luis Torrijos]

Thanks this worked on fedora. The process is very similar to Ubuntu. On Fedora run /usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx/bin/activate_matlab.sh and then ./matlab

I just had to do it twice. For some reason. Works fine.

[Jean Pierre Correa]

Thank You, you are the man!

[Ohm Vaghela]

Awesome man! this works

[Guillermo Arredondo Vazquez]

Thanks, I made a mistake changing the username and your solution help me to fit it.

[Mark Jones]

Cheers, you sorted my problem on Mac within 2 seconds!

[Aadil Mohammed Ranesh]

Thanks man, it works

[Pedapudi Bharath Raja Bhoopal]

thank you, it worked

[jiajun Zhuang]

Thank you,it is definitely useful !

[LEDIA HASA]

Hello there. i seem to have the same problem. i am working on ubutnu 18.04 TLS (WSL) and I have been working with matlab there until now. at some point, the matlab license don't work anymore, becouse my host Id has changed to 0000000000. I dont know how to get back my old host id. so any of these steps here aren't helping becouse the problem is always the same.

[shaik mujahid]

Thanks, that was an exact procedure. Done within few seconds

[Colin Fraser]

@LEDIA HASA

You'll need to somehow change that host ID on your computer. A 0000000000 host ID will not register correctly with us.

If you are still experiencing this issue, please create a service request below.

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

-Colin Fraser

[文皓 旷]

thanks!

[Ashitha Nair]

Thanks a lot!

[Guðjón Bergmann]

What an perfect answer! Thanks!

[Irving Gustavo Santiago Flores]

Gracias.

[GWENAEL CROUCHE]

Thanks! waiste 30 minute to finally find your answer and resolve my prob

[Robert Ashcraft]

muchas gracias.

[Jeswin Jaison]

thank youu

[MUHAMMAD SHUKRI AZIZI BIN RAZAK]

Thanks so much.. just 2min settle

[Mohammad Habibullah]

It works. Thank you very much

[Jae Yoon Keum]

Thank you very much

[Michael Levy]

You write, "Once you have launched the MATLAB activation client:"

Question: How does one launch the MATLAB activation client on Linux? Please inform exactly what to do.

[Lakshmikanth K]

I have done either ways ,manually and with internet.But still facing the issue .plaese resolve this issue

[Lakshmikanth K]

Is it a problem if am using the same mathworks account in two different OS

[Walter Roberson]

To launch the activation client on Linux, go into terminal ( https://maker.pro/linux/tutorial/basic-linux-commands-for-beginners ) and cd to the appropriate directory such as /usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx/bin . Once there,

sh ./activate_matlab.sh

You might possibly need

sudo sh ./activate_matlab.sh

[Walter Roberson]

There is no problem at all using the same Mathworks account or the same license with two different OS.

However, each different kind of license has a limitation on the number of simultaneous activations that you can have on different hardware. Not different OS. If you dual boot then unless you used a fairly old MATLAB for WIndows (that keyed off the disk serial number) then MATLAB will notice that the MAC addresses are the same and will permit the activation.

(If you use a virtual machine that uses a different MAC address, then you could end up "using up" an activation as MATLAB might consider them to be different machines.)

[Estefani Melgar]

the windows link doesnt work for me

[Image Analyst]

What is the specific "windows link" you clicked on? You forgot to tell us. Regardless, call tech support and get a live person on the phone. All installation tech support is fast and free (even for students), so do it now.

[Balázs Róbert Börcsök]

I have the same problem. After using the activation client it works just fine until next reboot. I check my username like described in https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/99067-why-do-i-receive-license-manager-error-9#answer_213381 and it really as the same as the local license file.

[Abhimanyu Kumar]

This process worked, Thanks

[Joseph Alias]

thnks

Answer 2

[Dandan Zhang]

Note: It's your Windows User Name rather than Microsoft Account Name.

You can determine your Windows username as follows:

1. 1.While sitting at the host computer with press and hold the Windows key and press the letter R on your keyboard.
2. 2.The Run box will appear.
3. 3.In the box, type cmd and press Enter. The command prompt window will appear.
4. 4.Type echo %username% and press Enter. (there is a space between echo and %username%)
5. 5.Your current username will be displayed.

Reference: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-security/where-can-i-find-windows-username-and-password/e9954cb0-fb5a-451e-a833-c7dfa48d1662?auth=1

[peggy du]

thank you!!! it's right to open my matlab.

[Abdullah Alamoodi]

I found my windows username...how can I enter it to the program now?

[Walter Roberson]

See the above on "How do I activate MATLAB?".

After you enter your Mathworks account information, you will get a window asking which user name will be used to run the program; enter your windows username at that place.

[Karen Dayana Gutierrez Silva]

Thank you very much!!

[Runqing Liu]

This problem trouble me one day,now I have solved it as you said. Think you very much!

[Chaorong Wu]

The most simple and practical answer!

[Linshan CHU]

So helpful and so useful, thank you

[HeeCheol Lee]

WoW Very Good! Thank you!!

[Mallory Jones]

if I did this and it says my username is "owner", how can I then change it to match my Matlab username?

[Walter Roberson]

Mallory Jones: see https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-account-name-windows-10-sign-screen

[XI LU]

You help me out! Thank you!!!

[Tee Chong Sheng]

Thank you very much!!! Finally, I found the correct username and solve the license error problem.

[Paul Summers]

This was very helpful and allowed me to solve my activation issue; thanks!

[Huan Yang]

Thank you so much!! This is very helpful for me to solve my error 9.

[Yun Lin]

Thank you so much!!! This solved my mismatch error!

[Nicolas El-Joukhadar]

you solved it!

[Meijin Lin]

Thank you very much. Very useful answer!

[FROST ZHANG]

If I have taken a wrong Windos User's Name,what should I do?

[Walter Roberson]

Follow the steps about activating MATLAB in the main Answer.

[Xiang Yu]

thank you, problem solved

[Piyush Kumar]

Thanks, worked for me.

[Kathleen Riegner]

Very helpful thanks!

[Xu Zhang]

Thanks!

[SEYMA INCELI]

Thanks!!!!

[Congmin Chen]

THANKS!!! Very helpful!!!

[MONWAT CHUMYEN]

Thanksssssss

[mahladisa machuene]

Do I Open in terminal?

[eunkyung cho]

It still doesn't work, what should I do?

[Colin Fraser]

If you are still experiencing this issue, please create a service request below.

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

-Colin Fraser

[Billy Moreno]

Thanks its ok the solution

[雪莹 刘]

thank you so much!!!!!

[Akhil Nair]

thank you so much

[亿万 李]

3Q so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peiyu JIANG]

Really thanks you so much!

[战磊 赵]

got it! 3Q

[waleed hussain]

how can i change my user name?

[Walter Roberson]

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/change-account-name-windows-10/

[Tinglian Yuan]

Exactly great answer. It is the computer username (Windows) that matters when you try to activate MATLAB. Try to fill the username as same as the Windows name.

[Oscar Fabian Bernal]

Gracias, encontre la solucion

Answer 3

[Scott Ruffner]

I was able to fix the error on my MacBook Pro with the advise above from Scott on the MathWorks Installation & Licensing Support team. I've added a few tips and step by step clarifications for others that may have the same issue.

I was receiving the -9 error. I'm running OS X Yosemite 10.10.5

It seems that you need to know which user on your Mac you are using. To find this out open a terminal window and type "whoami". Copy that result. You will need that at last step of the activation process.

I installed MATLAB in the /Applications folder.

In the terminal window go to wherever you installed MATLAB and find the bin sub-directory. For me this was /Applications/MATLAB_R2016b.app/bin

In the terminal I ran the activation script again by typing "./activate_matlab.sh"

Then I went through the steps "Login to MathWorks" [email/password] >> Next Selected the pre-selected license. >> Next Provide a user name/Login Name: (Paste the user name that you copied when you ran whoami above.)

Then open a new finder window go to Applications and try to run MATLAB_R2016b. It opened this time without errors hope this helps.