Installing the Wolfram App

Downloading the Wolfram App	Installing the Wolfram App from a File Server
Installing the Wolfram App on Mac...	Installing the Wolfram App from a Script
Installing the Wolfram App on Windows...	Product Activation
Installing the Wolfram App on Linux...

This page is accurate for versions 14.1 and newer of Wolfram App products, such as Mathematica. For older versions, see "Installing Mathematica" for details).

Downloading the Wolfram App

The Wolfram App is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. For a complete list of platform availability, visit www.wolfram.com/mathematica/system-requirements.html.

To set up the Wolfram App on your machine, you first need to download the Wolfram App. Installers are available in your Wolfram Account. If you cannot find your installers there, please check your Wolfram User Portal on the My Products and Services tab. If you have access to Wolfram products through your organization via single sign-on (SSO), product installers, including documentation, can be found on your organization’s site info page.

We recommend using the Download Manager (“Standard Download”) for both the Wolfram App installer and the documentation installer. Alternative download managers and installers are available in the User Portal or in your Wolfram Account. Without download managers, installations need to be started manually.

1. On the Products & Services tab in your Wolfram Account, select the Wolfram App (Note that as of version 14.1, Mathematica, Wolfram One, Wolfram Alpha Notebook Edition and Finance Platform are accessed through the Wolfram App).

If you don’t see your products, go to your Wolfram User Portal.

2. Under Access ► Desktop, click Download. This downloads the Download Manager that combines the Wolfram App core product and documentation installers.

Installing the Wolfram App on Mac...

A single installer for macOS installs the product on both Apple Silicon and Intel hardware.

3. Quit any previous installations of the Wolfram App that are running on your machine.

4. If you have a previous version of the Wolfram App installed in your Applications folder that you want to keep, rename it. Note that 14.1 is the first version of the Wolfram App, and it will not replace older versions of Mathematica, etc.

5. Double-click the downloaded dmg file to start the download manager and follow its instructions. The download manager confirms when the process is complete.

6. Click "Launch" to install Wolfram documentation.

7. Click Continue.

8. Click Install to install the documentation in the default location.

9. Wait for the installation to complete.

10. Click Close to finish installing the documentation.

11. The Wolfram Installer window opens next. Drag the Wolfram icon to the Applications folder icon.

12. Wait for the installation to complete.

13. The Wolfram App is now installed in your Applications folder. Next, activate a product to use it.

Installing the Wolfram App on Windows...

14. Quit any previous installations of the Wolfram App that are running on your machine.

15. Start the Wolfram Download Manager executable and follow its instructions. The download manager confirms when the process is complete.

16. Click "Launch" to install documentation.

17. Wait for the installation to complete.

18. The Wolfram setup dialog opens next. Click Next to begin the installation process.

19. Click Next to install the Wolfram App to the default directory.

20. Click Next to include wolframscript with your installation.
If you prefer not to install wolframscript, select “Choose components to install” from the drop-down menu and uncheck the box next to wolframscript; click Next to continue.

21. The installer adds Wolfram App shortcuts to the Windows Start Menu in the Wolfram 14.1 folder. To make the shortcuts appear in a different folder, click Browse and select a directory. If you prefer not to make a shortcut in the Start Menu, check the box next to “Don’t create a Start Menu folder”. Click Next to continue the installation.

22. The Remove Other Applications window only appears if there are older versions installed on the computer. 14.1 is the first version of the Wolfram App, so there won't be any old versions available to uninstall from here. Old versions of Mathematica, etc will not show up here, since they are treated as separate products.

23. The configuration of the Wolfram App installation is finished. Click Install.

24. When installation process completes, click Finish to launch the Wolfram App.

25. The installation is now complete. Next, activate a product to use it.

Installing the Wolfram App on Linux...

The Wolfram App installer for Linux is a bash script that runs in the Linux terminal. If you’re not familiar with the terminal, please read a brief guide on how to use it.

The setup is an easy-to-follow dialog. Please follow the corresponding instructions for installing from a downloaded script or from a USB drive.

Running the Installer from a Downloaded Script

1. Quit any previous installations of the Wolfram App that are running on your machine.

2. Open a terminal and change the directory to where the Wolfram + Documentation installer is located. For example, if the installer is located on your desktop, run:

cd Desktop

3. Installing the Wolfram App and Wolfram Language Documentation in their respective default locations, usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1 and usr/share/Wolfram/Documentation/14.1, requires administrative privileges.

While the Wolfram App can alternatively be installed in a custom location, the Wolfram Language Documentation can only be installed in the default location. Therefore, use the command sudo to run the installer script in either case.

For example, if the installer is called “Wolfram_14.1.0_BNDL_LIN.sh”, run:

sudo bash Wolfram_14.1.0_BNDL_LIN.sh

sudo asks you to enter your password on the machine. After providing it, the installation starts. The installer will prompt you to enter an installation directory.

Enter the installation directory, or press ENTER
to select /usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1:

4. Press Enter to install the Wolfram App to the default directory. The installer will then prompt you to choose where you want to place the executables.

Type the directory path in which Wolfram script(s) 
will be created, or press ENTER to select
/usr/local/bin:

5. Press Enter to place them in the default directory.

The installer may ask you to choose if you want to overwrite or rename a previously existing installation of Wolfram + Documentation. At this step, you can also choose to cancel your installation.

(1) Overwrite
(2) Rename
(3) Cancel

Type your selection, or press ENTER to select (1):

6. Press Enter to overwrite the previous installation.

Type 2 if you want to retain your older installation and rename it.

Next, the installer asks if you want to install wolframscript, an optional add-on to execute Wolfram Language code to be run from the command line or by using a script.

WolframScript allows Wolfram Language code to be run from the command line and from self-executing script files. It is always available from /usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1/Executables/wolframscript. WolframScript system integration makes the wolframscript binary accessible from any terminal, and allows .wls script files to be executed by double-clicking them in the file manager.

Install WolframScript system integration? (y/n)

7. To install wolframscript, type y; otherwise, type n.

Now, the Documentation Installer installs the Wolfram Language Documentation to its default location.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
          Wolfram Language 14.1 Documentation 14.1 Installer 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright (c) 1988-2024 Wolfram Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

WARNING: Wolfram Language 14.1 Documentation is protected by copyright
law and international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution
may result in severe civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted to
the maximum extent possible under law.

All users of this computer will be able to use this software.

Y


Now installing...

[*****************************************************************]

8. Wait for the Documentation Installer to finish. Next, activate a product to use it.

Running the Installer from a USB drive

1. Quit any previous installations of the Wolfram App that are running on your machine.

2. Mount the DVD or USB and change the directory to the mount point. Then change the directory to Unix/Installer.

3. Open a terminal and change the directory to where the Wolfram + Documentation installer is located. For example, if the installer is located on your desktop, run:

cd Desktop

4. Installing the Wolfram App and Wolfram Language Documentation in their respective default locations, usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1 and usr/share/Wolfram/Documentation/14.1, requires administrative privileges.

For example, if the installer is called “Wolfram_14.1.0_BNDL_LIN.sh”, run:

sudo bash Wolfram_14.1.0_BNDL_LIN.sh

sudo asks you to enter your password on the machine. After providing it, the installation starts. The installer will prompt you to enter an installation directory.

Enter the installation directory, or press ENTER
to select /usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1:

5. Press Enter to install the Wolfram App to the default directory. The installer will then prompt you to choose where you want to place the executables.

Type the directory path in which Wolfram script(s) 
will be created, or press ENTER to select
/usr/local/bin:

6. Press Enter to place them in the default directory.

The installer may ask you to choose if you want to overwrite or rename a previously existing installation of Wolfram + Documentation. At this step, you can also choose to cancel your installation.

(1) Overwrite
(2) Rename
(3) Cancel

Type your selection, or press ENTER to select (1):

7. Press Enter to overwrite the previous installation.

Type 2 if you want to retain your older installation and rename it.

Next, the installer asks if you want to install wolframscript, an optional add-on to execute Wolfram Language code to be run from the command line or by using a script.

WolframScript allows Wolfram Language code to be run from the command line and from self-executing script files. It is always available from /usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1/Executables/wolframscript. WolframScript system integration makes the wolframscript binary accessible from any terminal, and allows .wls script files to be executed by double-clicking them in the file manager.

Install WolframScript system integration? (y/n)

8. To install wolframscript, type y; otherwise, type n.

Now, the Documentation Installer installs the Wolfram Language Documentation to its default location.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
          Wolfram Language 14.1 Documentation 14.1 Installer 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright (c) 1988-2024 Wolfram Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

WARNING: Wolfram Language 14.1 Documentation is protected by copyright
law and international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution
may result in severe civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted to
the maximum extent possible under law.

All users of this computer will be able to use this software.

Y


Now installing...

[*****************************************************************]

9. Wait for the Documentation Installer to finish. Next, activate a product to use it.

Installing the Wolfram App from a File Server

One convenient way to install the Wolfram App on a client is to run the installer remotely from a file server. This is an efficient way of making the Wolfram App available to a large number of users without having to download the product on each one. You can install the Wolfram App from a file server on a client running any supported platform. It is not necessary that the client platform be the same as the file server platform.

To install the Wolfram App from a file server, you first must make the installer files available to the clients. You can do this by copying the contents of the downloaded installer to the file server and exporting the directory, or by exporting the USB Drive mount point on the file server. Then, mount the directory with the the Wolfram App distribution on the client and change to this directory, and run the installer as usual.

Installing the Wolfram App from a Script

If you are installing the Wolfram App on multiple machines, it can be time consuming to respond to all of the installer prompts on each individual machine. By supplying command-line options to the installer, you can customize various features of the installation process or automate it entirely.

Windows

/dir="C:\ path \ here "	specify the installation directory
DisableShellVerbs	disable file associations for .m, .nb, .nbp, etc. (enabled by default)
/group=" start menu folder name"	specify the start menu folder name
/noicons	disable creation of start menu folder and shortcuts
/norestart	do not restart the system, even if necessary
/restartexitcode= code	specify the installer exit code to return if restart is necessary
/silent	force an automatic installation and suppress installation windows
/suppressmsgboxes	suppress installer message boxes (only effective when used in conjuction with /silent )

The Wolfram App Installer supported command-line options.

Creating a Script That Performs a Silent Wolfram App Installation:

The following instructions explain how to write a simple script to silently install the Wolfram App from a file server. These instructions require that you have a mathpass file with a valid password. See "Registrations and Passwords" for more information on sitewide mathpass configurations.

1. Follow the instructions in the first part of "Installing the Wolfram App from a File Server" to copy the installer files to a file server.

2. Copy your mathpass file to the same directory on the file server as the installer files.

3. Open Notepad (Start Menu ▶ Programs ▶ Accessories ▶ Notepad) and type the following lines into a new file.

@echo off
echo Installing the Wolfram App...
\\server\math\setup.exe /silent /suppressmsgboxes /log="C:\Windows\Temp\install.log"
echo Creating password file...
copy \\server\math\mathpass "C:\Directory\Name"
echo Wolfram App installation complete.

4. Change all instances of \\server\math to the pathname of the network share where the Wolfram App installation files and mathpass file were copied.

5. Change "C:\Directory\Name" to the directory listed here for your version of Windows. Be sure to enclose the name of the directory in quotes.

Windows 10/11—"C:\ProgramData\Wolfram\Licensing"

Note: These directories are the values of $BaseDirectory for different versions of Windows, plus \Licensing. See "Configuration Files" for further information.

6. To save the file, choose File ▶ Save. Save the file in the same directory as the Wolfram App installation files. Type the file name install.bat and choose All Files from the Save as type popup menu. Click Save, then quit Notepad.

Performing a Silent Wolfram App Installation:

1. On the client, open a Command Prompt window, type the pathname of the install.bat file, and press Enter. For example, if the network share is called \\server\math, type:

\\server\math\install.bat

The following messages are displayed.

Installing the Wolfram App...
Creating password file...
Wolfram App installation complete.

2. The installation is now complete. If you see any messages other than those printed here, check the file C:\Windows\Temp\install.log on the client machine for further information.

Installing the Wolfram App in this way eliminates the need to take a USB drive to each client machine, and saves time by allowing you to run a simple script instead of responding to the installer questions.

Linux

-auto	force the installation to proceed automatically without prompting the user for any information
-createdir= value	specify whether or not to create the directories specified by the options -targetdir and -execdir
-execdir= dir	specify the path to be used for the symbolic links to the executable scripts
-help	display information about the installer options
-method= type	define the type of installation you would like to perform
-overwrite= value	specify whether the installer should overwrite any files that already exist in the target directory
-platforms= value	specify the system ID of the Linux platform or platforms for which you want to do the installation
-selinux= value	specify whether the installer should attempt to modify the security context of any included libraries so that it will function properly
-silent	force an automatic installation (equivalent to the -auto option)
-targetdir= dir	specify the installation directory
-verbose	display detailed information about the files and directories being installed

MathInstaller command-line options.

Note: Default values are used for any options that are not specified explicitly on the command line.

Valid input for -createdir is y for yes or n for no. By default, this value is set to y.

The default directory for -execdir is /usr/local/bin. This option only works with an automatic installation.

Valid input for -overwrite is y for yes or n for no. By default, this value is set to y. This option only works with an automatic installation.

The default for -platforms is the operating system you are installing on, if that information is available to the installer. This option only works with an automatic installation.

Valid input for -selinux is y for yes or n for no. By default, this value is set to n.

The option -silent suppresses any output from being displayed on the screen. The output is instead written to a file named InstallerLog-number. If the installation is unsuccessful, the log file is saved in the /tmp directory. Otherwise, the file is moved to the target directory and renamed InstallerLog.

The directory specified for -targetdir corresponds to the value of the global variable $InstallationDirectory. The default value is /usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1. This option only works with an automatic installation.

To complete the installation in one step, run a command like the following.

./MathInstaller -auto -targetdir=/home/wolfram

To do the same using the sudo command, you may need to use sudo's -- flag.

sudo ./MathInstaller -- -auto -targetdir=/home/wolfram

This allows you to complete the installation automatically in one step, while still being able to customize various details such as the directory to install to. You are not prompted to enter your password using this method, so you will need to enter a password the first time the Wolfram App is launched.

If you are doing many installations, you might find it convenient to include the MathInstaller command with all the relevant options in a shell script. Running the shell script is then an easy way to do an identical customized installation on multiple machines. You can further simplify the installation process by including a line in your script that copies an existing mathpass file to the appropriate location on the newly installed machine. Note that MathInstaller must be run from the directory in which it is located, so your script may require a command to change directory. See "Registrations and Passwords" for information on sitewide mathpass configurations.

Product Activation

Once the Wolfram App has been installed, it needs to be activated with your product(s). If the product has previously been activated on the current machine, additional action may not be necessary. If it needs to be activated on this machine, follow these instructions to activate your product(s).

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