System Requirements: Running COMSOL Applications

COMSOL applications can be run by connecting to COMSOL Server™ from a web browser or from the COMSOL Client for Windows^®. The COMSOL Client for Windows^® allows a user to run applications that require a LiveLink™ product for CAD. Running applications in a web browser does not require any installation or web browser plugins. Running an application in a web browser supports interactive graphics in 3D using WebGL™ technology. The system requirements for COMSOL Compiler™, and compiled applications, are identical to those for COMSOL Multiphysics^®.

Compiled Applications

The system requirements for COMSOL Compiler™ and compiled applications are nearly identical to those for COMSOL Multiphysics^®.

For ARM Linux, the curl software needs to be installed. Make sure you install curl before running the application the first time.

Linux^® Distribution	Installation Command
Debian^®, Ubuntu^®	`sudo apt-get install curl`
Red Hat^® Enterprise Linux^®, Rocky Linux, Oracle^® Linux^®	`sudo yum install curl`
SUSE^®, OpenSUSE^®	`sudo zypper install curl`

COMSOL Server™ Using Web Browsers

Recent versions of the most popular web browsers support the WebGL™ standard for 3D graphics and WebSockets. The table below lists the earliest version of each browser that supports WebGL™ and WebSockets, but we recommend always using the latest version of the browser for the best user experience.

Operating System	Browser	Recommended Version
Windows^®/Linux^®/macOS	Chrome™	31 or later
Windows^®	Internet Explorer^®	11 or later
Windows^®	Microsoft Edge^®	21 or later
Windows^®/Linux^®/macOS	Firefox^®	35 or later
macOS	Safari	7.1 or later
iOS^®	Safari	8.1 or later
Android™	Android™ Browser	37 or later
Android™	Chrome™	40 or later

COMSOL Server™ Using COMSOL Client for Windows^®

Running COMSOL applications with the COMSOL Client for the Windows^® operating system utilizes Microsoft^® Windows^® components. This gives simulation applications a look-and-feel similar to applications running in the COMSOL Desktop^® environment. In addition, many of the LiveLink™ products for CAD software can be used with the COMSOL Client.

	Supported Operating System Version
64-Bit Operating Systems	Windows^® 11 Windows^® 11 Pro for Workstations Windows^® 10 Windows^® 10 Pro for Workstations Windows^® 8.1 Windows^® 7 SP1¹ Windows Server^® 2022 Windows Server^® 2019 Windows Server^® 2016 Windows Server^® 2012 R2

¹ The COMSOL Client also requires that the Internet Explorer® web browser has been updated to version 11 on Windows 7 SP1.

COMSOL Server™ with Interfacing Products

CAD Import Module and Design Module

File import of the NX™ file format is available only on a supported Windows^® or Linux^® operating system. File import of the AutoCAD^®, Inventor^®, and SOLIDWORKS^® file formats is available only on a supported Windows^® operating system.

Operating System	Supported Version
Windows^®	Windows^® 7 SP1,¹ Windows^® 8.1, Windows^® 10, and Windows^® 11
macOS	macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11,² and 12²
Linux^®	OS-specific system requirements only

¹ File import of the AutoCAD^® 2023, Inventor^® 2023, NX™ 2206, and PTC Creo Parametric™ 9.0 file format versions is not available on Windows^® 7.

² File import of the ACIS, IGES, PTC Creo Parametric™, PTC Creo^® Elements Pro, STEP, and PTC Pro/ENGINEER^® file formats on macOS 11 and 12 with Apple silicon processors like M1 requires Rosetta 2.

For a list of supported file formats for CAD file import and export, see the CAD Specification Chart.

LiveLink™ Products for CAD Software

The bidirectional interface functionality of the product suite detailed in the table below is available only for the Windows^® 7 SP1, Windows^® 8.1, Windows^® 10, and Windows^® 11 operating systems when run together with the COMSOL Client or a compiled application. The bidirectional interface functionality of LiveLink™ for PTC Pro/ENGINEER^® is available only for the Windows^® 7 SP1 operating system when run together with the COMSOL Client or a compiled application. Synchronization in offline mode is available on all supported Windows^®, Linux^®, and macOS operating systems. For other included functionality, such as file import and geometric operations, see the CAD Import Module and Design Module table above.

LiveLink™	Compatible Software
LiveLink™ for AutoCAD^®	AutoCAD^® 2022 and 2023
LiveLink™ for Inventor^®	Inventor^® 2022 and 2023 Inventor^® Professional 2022 and 2023
LiveLink™ for PTC Creo Parametric™	PTC Creo Parametric™ 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0
LiveLink™ for PTC Pro/ENGINEER^®	PTC Pro/ENGINEER^® Wildfire^® 4.0 and 5.0 PTC Creo^® Elements Pro 5.0
LiveLink™ for Revit^®	Revit^® 2022 and 2023
LiveLink™ for Solid Edge^®	Solid Edge^® 2021 and 2022
LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS^®	SOLIDWORKS^® 2021–2023

File Import for CATIA^® V5

The File Import for CATIA^® V5 add-on to the CAD Import Module, Design Module, and LiveLink™ products for CAD is only available for Windows^® 8.1, Windows^® 10, and Windows^® 11.

LiveLink™ for Excel^®

LiveLink™ for Excel^® is compatible with Excel^® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021 on the Windows^® operating system. Excel^® 2010 Starter is not supported.

LiveLink™ for MATLAB^®

LiveLink™ for MATLAB^® is compatible with MATLAB^® R2022a and R2022b on all supported operating systems. For Linux^® operating system, the xterm and csh programs are required. To interface with MATLAB^® functions, the COMSOL application needs to be run in a web browser, while the MATLAB^® and COMSOL Server™ programs need to be installed on the same physical computer.

Note: This information is provided for your benefit, but should not be used as a substitute for your own investigation of the system requirements that may be appropriate for your use of COMSOL^® software or other software, given your particular circumstances. Systems and hardware change regularly, which may impact any determination of which system requirements are appropriate for you.

Android and Chrome are trademarks of Google Inc. Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. CATIA is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. Firefox is a registered trademark of the Mozilla Foundation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. macOS , and Safari are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. Microsoft, Microsoft Edge, Excel, Internet Explorer, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. NX and Solid Edge are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. PTC, Creo, Creo Parametric, Elements/Pro, Pro/ENGINEER, and Wildfire are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and in other countries. SOLIDWORKS is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. WebGL and the WebGL logo are trademarks of the Khronos Group Inc. COMSOL AB and its subsidiaries and products are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by these trademark owners.