Standard Installation Procedure (MATLAB Installation Guide for PC) MATLAB Installation Guide for PC     After You Install This section describes tasks you can perform after a successful installation, including: Starting MATLAB Setting Your Initial Current Directory Setting Up MATLAB Environment Options, if desired. Configuring Certain Release 12 Products, if required. This section also includes pointers to sources of additional information about MathWorks products. Starting MATLAB There are several ways to start MATLAB: Double-click on the shortcut that the installer creates on your desktop. Click on the Start button, view the Programs menu, and click on the MATLAB Release 12 entry. Select MATLAB R12 from this menu. The installer also puts a short cut to the MATLAB executable (matlab.exe) in the top-level installation directory ($MATLAB). Setting Your Initial Current Directory By default, when you start MATLAB using a shortcut, the initial current directory is the $MATLAB\work directory, where $MATLAB represents your installation directory. You can, however, use any directory as your MATLAB initial current directory. The \work directory is a good place to store the M-files you modify and create because it is not overwritten by the installer, if you install MATLAB over an existing installation, nor is it deleted when you use The MathWorks uninstaller program to remove a MATLAB installation. To specify another directory as your initial current directory, right-click on the MATLAB short-cut the installer creates on your desktop and select the Properties option. Specify the name of the directory in the Start in field.  Installation Instructions Setting Up MATLAB Environment Options