I’ve tried 2 different Windows cracks I found – the FileCR 2023b crack, and the AppDoze 2025a crack. Both look legit to me but in both cases I get the exact same issue: With my computer offline, following the readmes, I mount the iso, run setup.exe, select “I have a File Installation Key”, enter said key, and get this error: “Unable to load product files. Product files must be in the same folder as the input file. For help getting the product files, see the installation documentation on MATLAB Answer” which links to https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/98390?s_tid=pi_noprode_mpi_R2025a_win64 which is clear as mud.
I tried 0ing out the key and confirmed that it recognizes when you give it a bad key, so the key in the crack is still detected as a valid key, that’s probably not the issue.
Thank you to any fellow pirate who can help a poor cuttlefish out o7 <3
EDIT: Based on https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/259632-how-can-i-get-matlab-installation-files-for-use-on-an-offline-machine
I should be able to use the installer (once logged in) to download files without installing, then go offline and use the file installation key. However, the option to download files without installing is all greyed out.
Do you specifically need MATLAB? Because there is SciLab which is free and pretty much does the same.
There is also Octave
Also, if you can code in Python, the matplotlib library can get MATLAB graphics for you. I have decided to learn Python since it costs $0 and employers never want to buy enough MATLAB licenses.
That looks super cool but I do think I specifically need Matlab since that’s what I’ve prototyped some ideas in already (I have an old crack but there are some new specialized toolboxes I want to use or at least try out which require a new version of matlab which these cracks claim to have and I don’t see an equivalent in SciLab).
Basically, if I can get a new crack of Matlab working to use the new toolboxes, I can rapidly iterate through and test some ideas. If not, I was going to have to dig into some other open source tools which is going to be way more effort.
I suspect if you need Simulink and other special features, Octave and Scilab might not have all that.
I specifically want the audio processing toolbox. I actually still don’t even really understand what Simulink is, I don’t get the concept of “graphical based programming” since to me programming is typing text that tells a computer what to do.
Or Python. Nobody uses MATLAB because they will basically sequester your research data and experiments behind a pay wall.
These days you look for a new device for your lab, experiment or production and you look for the Python interface. No Python interface? GTFO then good luck selling anything.
Exactly. And employers never want to buy enough seats. There is always someone using it. Matplotlib will make the same MATLAB graphics. I am a MATLAB ninja and my Python sucks, but MATLAB can eat a dick for the aforementioned reasons.