This bug has been fixed in Release 2012a (R2012a). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:
Fully automated or silent MATLAB R2011b installations are only possible if the appropriate version of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2005 is available on the system prior to MATLAB installation. MATLAB R2011b requires of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2005 version 8.0.6100.
It is possible to install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable silently using the installer for Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable which is packaged with the MATLAB installer prior to running the MATLAB installer.
This installer is found with the MATLAB installation files (on the DVD or in the downloads directory) under bin/win32 for 32-bit Windows or bin/win64 for 64-bit Windows. Run the executable via a dos prompt with the /Q flag. If $MEDIA is the directory where the installation files are, run:
64-bit Windows:
$MEDIA\bin\win64\vcredist_x64.exe /Q
32-bit Windows:
$MEDIA\bin\win32\vcredist_x86.exe /Q
Afterwards you can run the MATLAB silent installer as normal.
Note that this behavior does not affect MATLAB R2011a or earlier.
