System Requirements: COMSOL Multiphysics® Version 6.2

Hardware Requirements

The hardware requirements for COMSOL Multiphysics® include:

  • A working network card and internet connection for installation
  • At least 4 GB of RAM
  • 2–20 GB of disk space, depending on your licensed products and installation options
  • The following processors:
    • An Intel® or AMD® 64-bit processor based on the Intel® 64 or AMD64 architecture with the SSE4 instruction set
      • Intel® processors released in 2009 or later and AMD® processors released in 2012 or later satisfy this requirement.
    • Apple silicon processors (M1 and later); supported with macOS
    • ARM64 processors; supported with Linux®

In addition, Adobe Acrobat® Reader is required to view and print the COMSOL documentation in PDF format.

For further recommendations concerning hardware, please see our Knowledge Base entry.

Operating System Requirements

In addition to the operating system requirements listed below, there are specific requirements for the CAD Import Module, Design Module, and LiveLink™ products listed on the Interfacing Product Suite Requirements. The system requirements for COMSOL Compiler™ are identical to those for COMSOL Multiphysics®.

64-Bit Operating Systems

Architecture Windows® macOS Linux®

Intel® 64

AMD64

  • Windows® 11
  • Windows® 11 Pro for Workstations
  • Windows® 10
  • Windows® 10 Pro for Workstations
  • Windows Server® 2022
  • Windows Server® 2019
  • Windows Server® 2016
  • macOS 12
  • macOS 13
  • macOS 14
  • Debian® 11 and 12
  • Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 7.9, 8.8, and 9.2
  • CentOS® 7.9
  • Rocky Linux 8.8 and 9.2
  • Oracle® Linux® 8.8 and 9.2
  • Ubuntu® 20.04 and 22.04
  • SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop® 15 SP5
  • OpenSUSE® Leap 15.5
  • Amazon’s Linux®-based OS 2023
ARM64 (including Apple silicon processors like M1) Not supported
  • macOS 12
  • macOS 13
  • macOS 14
  • Debian® 11 and 12
  • Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 8.8 and 9.2
  • Rocky Linux 8.8 and 9.2
  • Oracle® Linux® 8.8 and 9.2
  • Ubuntu® 20.04 and 22.04
  • Amazon’s Linux®-based OS 2023

OS-Specific System Requirements

Linux® (Intel® 64 and AMD64)
  • GNU C Library version 2.17 or later
  • Linux® kernel 3.10 or later
  • FlexNet® License Manager requires Linux Standard Base (LSB™)1
Linux® (ARM64)
  • GNU C Library version 2.28 or later
  • Linux® kernel 4.18 or later
  • FlexNet® License Manager requires Linux Standard Base (LSB™)1

1 See FlexNet® License Manager on Linux® below.

Help System on Linux®

In order for the help system to work on Linux® operating systems, the WebKitGTK package needs to be installed. Versions up to 2.32 are supported. Some later versions have stability issues which may or may not affect COMSOL®. The WebKitGTK package is available under different names in different Linux® distributions:

Linux® Distribution Package Name
Debian® 11 and 12 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37
Ubuntu® 20.04 and 22.04 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 7 and CentOS® 7 webkitgtk4
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 8, Rocky Linux 8, and Oracle® Linux 8 webkit2gtk3
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 9, Rocky Linux 9, and Oracle® Linux 9 webkit2gtk3
SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop® 15 libwebkit2gtk-4_0-37
OpenSUSE® Leap 15.5 libwebkit2gtk-4_0-37

FlexNet® License Manager

The system requirements for the license manager are the same as for COMSOL Multiphysics®. FlexNet® version 11.18.3 is used on all platforms. The version of lmgrd must be the same or higher than the FlexNet® version used by the COMSOL® software. Please note that version 11.18.3 is the same version as in COMSOL® version 6.1. This means that you do not need to update the license manager when upgrading from COMSOL® version 6.1 to COMSOL® version 6.2.

FlexNet® License Manager on Linux®

Linux Standard Base (LSB™) is required for Linux® on the license server computer.

If the LSB™ core package is missing from the distribution repository, manually create a symbolic link as root:

  • For Intel® 64 and AMD64 architectures:
    ln -s /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 /lib64/ld-lsb-x86-64.so.3
  • For ARM64:
    ln -s /lib64/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1 /lib64/ld-lsb-aarch64.so.3
Distribution Required Packages
Debian® lsb-core
Ubuntu® lsb-core
Red Hat® redhat-lsb
SUSE® lsb

Application Builder

The Application Builder is supported in the Windows® operating system.

Model Manager

The capability to use a local Model Manager database is included with all licenses except the class kit license. When using a local Model Manager database, it needs to be located on your computer and cannot be placed on a network or cloud drive. Installation and connection to a central Model Manager server is available with a floating network license.

Add-In for Microsoft® PowerPoint®

The COMSOL add-in for PowerPoint® is compatible with PowerPoint® 2016, 2019, and 2021 on the Windows® operating system. If you are using Microsoft 365, PowerPoint® must be installed on the computer — the add-in requires a version of PowerPoint® that supports VSTO add-ins.

Parallel System Requirements

Windows® macOS Linux®
Shared-Memory Parallelism All supported versions of Windows® All supported versions of macOS All supported Linux® distributions
Distributed-Memory Parallelism
  • Windows Server® 20221
  • Windows Server® 20191
  • Windows Server® 20161
Not supported
  • Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 72, 8, and 9
  • CentOS® 72
  • Rocky Linux™ 8 and 9
  • Debian® 11
  • Ubuntu® 20.04 and 22.04

All computers in the cluster must use the same Linux® version and should have similar hardware. It is recommended that Open Fabric Interface (OFI) 1.5.0 or higher is installed. If you are using RDMA-capable network fabrics, a DAPL 1.2 or later version-compliant driver or library is required. The software is usually provided with your hardware. The libatomic package should be installed on all cluster nodes when using MPICH2.

1 Microsoft® HPC Pack for the respective Windows Server version is required.

2 Version 7 requires using Intel MPI 2021.6.

For information on how you can run COMSOL Multiphysics® and COMSOL Server™ in the cloud, please view this page.

Officially Supported Compilers

COMSOL Multiphysics® provides external C interfaces for external functions, external materials, and external C libraries in the Application Builder.

Windows® macOS (Intel) macOS (Apple Silicon) Linux® (Intel® 64 and AMD64) Linux® (ARM64)
External C Interfaces Microsoft Visual Studio® 2022 Intel® C++ Compiler Classic 2021.8.0 with Apple clang version 14.0.0 (clang-1400.0.29.202) Clang version 12.0.1 and Apple clang version 14.0.0 (clang-1400.0.29.202) Intel® Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition for C++ Linux® 20.4 (also known as Intel® C++ Compiler version 19.1.3.304) with GCC 9.4.0 GCC 12.2.0
Java® API JDK 8 and 11 JDK 8 and 11 JDK 8 and 11 JDK 8 and 11 JDK 8 and 11

COMSOL Multiphysics® is built and tested with the above C/C++ compilers. Please note that later versions of those C/C++ compilers may also be compatible with the external C interfaces. When using the COMSOL API for use with Java® API in client/server mode with the jar files listed in /bin/comsolclientpath.txt, JRE 8 and 11 are supported. When using the COMSOL API for use with Java® API in standalone mode with the jar files listed in /bin/comsolpath.txt, JRE 11 is supported.

Java® Environment

COMSOL is shipped with OpenJDK™ 11.0.20+8. You can choose an alternative Java 11 version 11.0.20+8 or later during installation.

Graphics System Requirements

COMSOL recommends hardware rendering for performance reasons. Hardware rendering requires drivers that support OpenGL® version 2.1 or later.

To use all rendering features available when Optimize for Quality is set in the Graphics preferences, graphics memory of 2 GB or more is recommended.

AMD®

Windows® 11

Card Model Driver Version
AMD Radeon™ Pro W7900 23.Q3.1
AMD Radeon™ Pro W7800 23.Q3.1
AMD Radeon™ Pro W7600 23.Q3.1
AMD Radeon™ Pro W7500 23.Q3.1

Windows® 10

Card Model Driver Version
AMD Radeon™ Pro W6800 23.Q3.1
AMD Radeon™ Pro W6600 23.Q3.1
AMD Radeon™ Pro W6400 23.Q3.1

Ubuntu® 22.04

Card Model Driver Version
AMD Radeon™ Pro W7600 AMDGPU (Linux® 5.15.0)
AMD Radeon™ Pro W7500 AMDGPU (Linux® 5.15.0)
AMD Radeon™ Pro W6800 AMDGPU (Linux® 5.15.0)
AMD Radeon™ Pro W6600 AMDGPU (Linux® 5.15.0)
AMD Radeon™ Pro W6400 AMDGPU (Linux® 5.15.0)

NVIDIA®

Windows® 11

Card Model Operating System Driver Version
Quadro® RTX A5500 Windows® 11 537.13
Quadro® RTX A5000 Windows® 11 537.13
Quadro® RTX A4000 Windows® 11 537.13
Quadro® RTX A3000 Windows® 11 537.13
Quadro® RTX A2000 Windows® 11 537.13

Windows® 10

Card Model Driver Version
Quadro® T1000 537.13
Quadro® T400 537.13
Quadro® T600-R 537.13

The graphics cards listed above have been rigorously tested for compatibility with the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. Please note, however, that other AMD® or NVIDIA® graphics cards may also be compatible with COMSOL Multiphysics®. Graphics cards that belong to the same model series as one of the cards listed above are more likely to be compatible with COMSOL Multiphysics®.

For hardware acceleration on Linux®, use proprietary drivers from your graphics card vendor, such as NVIDIA®; otherwise, use COMSOL® software rendering. The Nouveau video driver is only supported for software rendering.

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 what system requirements are appropriate for you.

Adobe and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. AMD and Radeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Debian is a registered trademark of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. in the United States. FlexNet is a registered trademark of Flexera Software LLC. NVIDIA and NVIDIA Quadro is a registered trademark of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Intel and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Oracle, OpenJDK, and Java are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and CentOS are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. Ubuntu is a registered trademark of Canonical Ltd. OpenGL is a trademark or registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. OpenSUSE and SUSE are registered trademarks of SUSE LLC. Linux, Linux Standard Base, and LSB are trademarks or registered trademarks of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. Apple and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft, PowerPoint, Visual Studio, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Rocky Linux is a trademark of Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation. Ubuntu is a registered trademark of Canonical Ltd. COMSOL AB and its subsidiaries and products are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by these trademark owners.