User`s guide

R2007b
19-2
Desktop Tools and Development Environment
Startup and Shutdown
Windows Platforms Startup Changes
You can now change the MATLAB startup directory on Microsoft Windows platforms
using the standard shortcut Start in field. The My Documents\MATLAB subfolder (or
Documents\MATLAB on the Microsoft Windows Vista platform) is the default startup
directory. Upon startup, MATLAB automatically creates a My Documents\MATLAB
subfolder (or Documents\MATLAB on the Windows Vista platform) if it does not exist,
and adds it to the top of the MATLAB search path. To change the startup directory:
1
Right-click the MATLAB shortcut icon and select Properties from the context
menu. The MATLAB Properties dialog box opens to the Shortcut pane.
2
In the Start in field, specify the directory in which you want MATLAB to start, for
example, C:\My MATLAB Place.
You can specify the directory via a UNC path (that is, the path can begin with \\).
The Target field specifies the full path to the file to start MATLAB, matlab.exe,
located in the bin folder (for example, C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2007b\bin
\matlab.exe). Use the bin\matlab.exe to start MATLAB instead of matlab.bat or
matlab.exe located in a platform directory such as bin\win32. The bin\matlab.exe
detects the Windows platform and ensures required run-time files are installed.
Compatibility Considerations
The Target field no longer contains the -sd $documents startup option. In MATLAB
Version 7.4 (R2007a), the startup directory was specified via the -sd startup option in
the Target field. You had to specify the directory via a mapped drive. Any value in the
Start in field was ignored.
The file to start MATLAB, as specified in the Target field, was matlab.bat.
Change any scripts you use to start MATLAB to specify the full path to bin
\matlab.exe. If you use matlab.bat in R2007b, MATLAB issues a warning message
instructing you to use matlab.exe instead.