Upgrading the Matlab version or installing Addon Toolboxes can be initiated from the system Terminal / Command Prompt. Actually doing the upgrade or addon install does require a graphical connection to the computer (Remote Desktop, VNC, or similar).

The little bell icon on the upper right corner of the Matlab IDE typically shows when a Matlab update is available. To force checking for install, even if the bell is not showing an update, under the Matlab directory look for “update_installer”

• Windows: bin/win64/update_installer.exe
• Linux: bin/glnxa64/update_installer
• MacOS: bin/maci64/update_installer

If the graphical connection has a problem like:

terminating with uncaught exception of type (anonymous namespace)::DisplayError: No display available.

The Addon interface does need to be launched from the Matlab IDE and likewise requires a graphical connection.

If having trouble with the graphical windows launched, try this for diagnosis:

matlab.internal.webwindow('www.mathworks.com')

That should return a webwindow object without error (a window does not actually open). If on Linux with a graphical connection and errors result, try renaming libcrypto.so.1.1 like:

cd $(matlab -batch "disp(matlabroot)")/bin/glnxa64/

mv libcrypto.so.1.1 libcrypto.so.1.1.bak

Related: Matlab install Linux