COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5 Fails to Start on macOS 11

Problem Description

After upgrading to macOS 11, COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5 fails to launch.

Solution

Make sure you are running COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5 Update 3.

From the COMSOL Multiphysics installation directory, go to the directory called uninstall. In that directory, locate the file fl.ver. Right-click on the file and select Open With > Text Edit.

If the line ver.build says 359, you have Update 3 installed. In that case, proceed to the section called Installing the patch for macOS 11

Update your COMSOL Multiphysics installation.

To update your COMSOL Multiphysics installation, run the app COMSOL Update from your COMSOL Multiphysics installation directory.

Then, verify that your COMSOL Multiphysics installation is up to date as per the instructions above.

Installing the patch for macOS 11

If you have a COMSOL Multiphysics installation without COMSOL Compiler, please go here

If you have a COMSOL Multiphysics installation with COMSOL Compiler, please go here

Installing the patch for COMSOL Multiphysics without COMSOL Compiler.

Download the file comsol55_hotfix_for_big_sur.dat below.

Run the app COMSOL Update from your COMSOL Multiphysics installation directory.

On the first page, select Manual download and point to the downloaded DAT file by clicking Browse. Click Next and continue with the installation.

Installing the patch for COMSOL Multiphysics with COMSOL Compiler.

Note: please follow the instructions below exactly. Do not attempt to copy the folders in the ZIP archive to the installation as that might lead to a invalid installation.

• Right-click on comsol55_hotfix_for_big_sur.zip (see the link below) and select Download Linked File.
• Launch the Terminal Application.
• Connect to your installation directory, for example, /Applications/COMSOL55/Multiphysics:
  cd /Applications/COMSOL55/Multiphysics
• Extract the downloaded file:
  unzip {download path}/comsol55_hotfix_for_big_sur.zip
  In response to the prompt to Replace files, type A and press return. (If you do not get a prompt about replacing files, it is likely that you connected to the wrong directory.)

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