What does "Use VirtualBox instead of Native on next restart" in Kitematic (Docker) do?

Question

There is a setting when you click the sprocket on the right of the bottom tab in Kitematic. What does it do exactly? What is the difference between Native and VirtualBox?

Answer 1

Use VirtualBox instead of Native means Kitematic will use the VirtualBox based virtualization technology instead of Native virtualization technology.

For example, when you install Docker for Mac, the Kitematic that comes with it uses the native VM created based on HyperKit technology (See the The Docker for Mac Environment section in this link for context at https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/docker-toolbox/#the-docker-for-mac-environment).

If you instead want Kitematic to use the Virtual Box VM, then turn this setting on. It boots the default Virtual Box VM (uses the boot2docker image) and connects to the dockerd running in it.