top | previous | next

Index

Installation

Important Note for macOS users: macOS machines require the installation of 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:

macversion.png

To see what version of XQuartz you have, click Applications -> Utilities -> XQuartz. Then X11 -> About X11

xqfinder.png xqversion.png

If necessary, download the XQuartz installation package and double click it to install.


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:

install-5mpkg.png

If you get this error:

install_error.png

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.

allow_anywhere.png

After the package integrity has been verified, the introductory screen will appear. Click on Continue:

install-5intro.jpg

Next is the Read Me window. Click on Continue:

readme1.png

Next is the Software License Agreement window. Click on Continue:

SLA.png

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:

install_location.png

You may need to enter you password. The installation process will begin to write files and will take a few minutes to complete.

successful.png


Setup and Configuration

To begin using freesurfer, open a terminal window. The Terminal application is found under Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal:

terminal.png

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:

source_freesurfer.png

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.

For newer Mac OS Systems

If you receive the following error when running the test_commands.sh.15 script:

[[+ cd /users/hippo/lcn/tutorial_data/tutorial_data_20190918_1558/buckner_data/tutorial_subjs/group_analysis_tutorial + mris_anatomical_stats -l lh.supramarg.label -t lh.thickness -b -f 004/stats/lh.supramarg.stats 004 lh dyld: lazy symbol binding failed: Symbol not found: _emutls_get_address

dyld: Symbol not found: _emutls_get_address

./test_commands.sh.15: line 368: 87124 Abort trap: 6 mris_anatomical_stats -l lh.supramarg.label -t lh.thickness -b -f 004/stats/lh.supramarg.stats 004 lh]]

Then, you need to install a Freeview patch to have this work with your Mac OS version. Download the patch (~33 MB) from this location and follow the following instructions:

1) Remove your existing Freeview.app application bundle by sending it to the trash (and then emptying the trash).

2) Copy the new Freeview.app.zip to where your old Freeview.app was located and uncompress it (so it becomes

3) Remove ./freesurfer/lib/gcc/lib/libgomp.1.dylib from your existing freesurfer installation.

4) Copy the ./freesurfer/lib/gcc/lib/libgomp.1.dylib from the patch archive to /freesurfer/lib/gcc/lib in your current

5) Try running the Freeview.app and loading a volume with it.