Index
Contents
Installation
Important Note for macOS users: macOS machines require the installation of XQuartz for FreeSurfer to work properly. macOS versions 10.6 - 10.9 require XQuartz 2.7.5. macOS versions 10.10 and higher require XQuartz 2.7.6.
Installing XQuartz
To see what version of macOS you have, click Apple -> About This Mac. You should see something similar to the image below:
To see what version of XQuartz you have, click Applications -> Utilities -> XQuartz. Then X11 -> About X11
If necessary, download the XQuartz installation package and double click it to install.
XQuartz 2.7.5 (macOS versions 10.6 - 10.9)
XQuartz 2.7.6 (macOS versions 10.10 and higher)
Installing FreeSurfer
Download the FreeSurfer installation package from this page. Double click the dmg then double click the freesurfer-Darwin-full.pkg to launch the installation wizard:
If you get this error:
Then you need to adjust your security settings to allow applications from 3rd party developers to be installed. To do this go to Apple -> System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General. Click the lock on the bottom left to make changes and under Allow applications downloaded from: select Anywhere.
After the package integrity has been verified, the introductory screen will appear. Click on Continue:
Next is the Read Me window. Click on Continue:
Next is the Software License Agreement window. Click on Continue:
Next is the Destination Select window. Click Change Install Location... to change the default installation disk and folder (/Applications/freesurfer). Or click Install to go with default:
You may need to enter you password. The installation process will begin to write files and will take a few minutes to complete.
Setup and Configuration
To begin using freesurfer, open a terminal window. The Terminal application is found under Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal:
Type the following lines in the terminal window to source the freesurfer environment:
export FREESURFER_HOME=/Applications/freesurfer source $FREESURFER_HOME/SetUpFreeSurfer.sh
After you source freesurfer you should see some output similar to the window below:
If you use freesurfer frequently and want to avoid typing the above lines of code every time you open a terminal window, you can create a file called .profile in your home directory which contains those two line. This will cause the terminal window to automatically source freesurfer every time it is opened.
At this point you are ready to begin using the freesurfer software. If you haven't done so already, obtain a license, and copy the license.txt file into your $FREESURFER_HOME (Applications/freesurfer) directory.
Testing Freesurfer
See the this page for some example commands to test that FreeSurfer is installed and running properly.