Installing Wolfram—Wolfram Language Documentation (2024)

This page is accurate for Version 14.1 and higher of Wolfram-based products, such as Mathematica. For lower versions, see "Installing Mathematica" for details.

Downloading Wolfram

To set up Wolfram on your machine, you first need to download Wolfram. 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 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 Wolfram (Note that as of Version 14.1, Mathematica, Wolfram One, Wolfram Alpha Notebook Edition and Finance Platform are accessed through Wolfram).

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

Installing Wolfram on Windows…

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

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

5. Click "Launch" to install documentation.

6. Wait for the installation to complete.

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

8. Click Next to install Wolfram to the default directory.

9. 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.

10. The installer adds Wolfram 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.

11. The Remove Other Applications window only appears if there are older versions installed on the computer. Version 14.1 is the first version of Wolfram, so there will not 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.

12. The configuration of Wolfram installation is finished. Click Install.

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

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

Installing Wolfram on Mac…

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

15. Quit any previous installations of Wolfram that are running on your machine.

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

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

18. Click "Launch" to install Wolfram documentation.

19. Click Continue.

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

21. Wait for the installation to complete.

22. Click Close to finish installing the documentation.

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

24. Wait for the installation to complete.

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

Installing Wolfram on Linux…

The Wolfram installer for Linux is a bash script that runs in the Linux terminal. If you are 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 Wolfram 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 Wolfram and the corresponding documentation in their respective default locations, usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1 and usr/share/Wolfram/Documentation/14.1, requires administrative privileges.

While Wolfram 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 Wolfram 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 DVD or USB drive

1. Quit any previous installations of Wolfram 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 /home/<username>/Wolfram/Unix/Installer/WolframInstaller.

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 Wolfram and the corresponding documentation in their respective default locations, usr/local/Wolfram/Wolfram/14.1 and usr/share/Wolfram/Documentation/14.1, requires administrative privileges.

While Wolfram 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:

5. Press Enter to install Wolfram 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 Wolfram from a File Server

One convenient way to install Wolfram on a client is to run the installer remotely from a file server. This is an efficient way of making Wolfram available to a large number of users without having to download the product on each one. You can install Wolfram 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 Wolfram 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 Wolfram distribution on the client, change to this directory and run the installer as usual.

Installing Wolfram from a Script

If you are installing Wolfram 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

Wolfram Installer supported command-line options.

Creating a Script That Performs a Silent Wolfram Installation:

The following instructions explain how to write a simple script to silently install Wolfram 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 Wolfram 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 Wolfram...
\\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 installation complete.

4. Change all instances of \\server\math to the pathname of the network share where the Wolfram 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 Wolfram 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 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 Wolfram...
Creating password file...
Wolfram 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 Wolfram 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

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 Wolfram 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 Wolfram 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).

Using Wolfram

While Wolfram can be used in the same general manner as Mathematica had previously been, there are a number of changes that may affect a user's workflow. To see more about what has changed with this transition, see the tech note on Upgrading from Mathematica to Wolfram.