The Getting Started document describes the following prerequisites:
- Mac must be a 2010 or newer model, with Intel’s hardware support for memory management unit (MMU) virtualization; i.e., Extended Page Tables (EPT)
I’ve done some research on the MMU and EPT part. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization I found out that EPT is part of VT-x. MMU is part of VT-d. In short, that means the CPU should support both VT-x and VT-d.
Since the requirement described “Mac must be a 2010 or newer model…” I made the assumption I was safe. Either way, I was able to look up more information about the CPU in my iMac. Using the sysctl command gives you information about the model number of the CPU, in my case an Intel Core i5-760 Processor.
$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 760 @ 2.80GHz
This model information can be used on the Intel Ark website to look up specific details of the processor. For example: http://ark.intel.com/products/48496/Intel-Core-i5-760-Processor-8M-Cache-2_80-GHz. If you’ve got another CPU, go to ark.intel.com and use the search box to enter your model.
On the details page, I noticed under the “Advanced Technologies” part my CPU does support VT-x but doesn’t support VT-d.
So that would be explaining why Docker for Mac won’t run on my iMac. Raises the question: can someone from the Docker team confirm this, and, will it stay impossible (for this specific hardware) to run Docker for Mac?