For Windows:

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1. Click the Start Menu, go to "All Programs", then "MATLAB"

2. Go to the folder for the release of MATLAB you wish to activate (e.g. R2008a)

3. Click the option to "Activate MATLAB"

You can also launch the activation client directly by running activate_matlab.exe from $MATLABROOT\bin\win32 or $MATLABROOT\bin\win64.

(where $MATLABROOT is the MATLAB installation folder)

For Linux:

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To launch the activation client, you will need to use the activate_matlab.sh script in the $MATLABROOT/bin folder. To launch this script:

1. Open a Terminal window. On Mac OS X, go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal

2. In the Terminal window, run the following commands:

cd $MATLABROOT/bin

./activate_matlab

(where $MATLABROOT is the MATLAB installation folder)

NOTE: You may need administrator or superuser permissions in order to complete activation.

For Mac OS X:

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For MATLAB 7.8 (R2008b) and later on Mac OS X, you can also launch the activation client from Finder:

1. Open a Finder window and Locate the MATLAB.app icon in your Applications folder (e.g. MATLAB_R2008b.app).

2. Open the MATLAB folder by hitting CTRL+Click (or right-click) and select "Show Package Contents".

3. Double-click on "Activate" in the MATLAB folder to start the activation client.