Incorrect character encoding (Mojibake) in German localization of "Docker Virtual Machine Service"

[spnmlr]

Description

The process name for the Docker Virtual Machine Service is displayed with corrupted characters in the macOS Activity Monitor when the system language is set to German.

Reproduce

1. Set macOS system language to German.
2. Start Docker Desktop.
3. Open Activity Monitor (Aktivitätsanzeige).
4. Search for "Docker".

Expected behavior

The process name should be correctly displayed as "Dienst für virtuelle Maschine für Docker" without encoding artifacts.

docker version

Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           29.2.1
 API version:       1.53
 Go version:        go1.25.6
 Git commit:        a5c7197d72
 Built:             Mon Feb  2 16:33:58 2026
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.59.1 (217750)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.2.0
  API version:      1.53 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.6
  Git commit:       9c62384
  Built:            Mon Jan 26 19:25:48 2026
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.2.1
  GitCommit:        dea7da592f5d1d2b7755e3a161be07f43fad8f75
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.4
  GitCommit:        v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:    29.2.1
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.17.2
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.31.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v5.0.2
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.47
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.0
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.37.0
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.8
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-model
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.41
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-offload
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.24
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-pass
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.11.0
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sandbox
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.19.0
    Path:     /Users/<USER>/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 3
  Running: 2
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 1
 Images: 7
 Server Version: 29.2.0
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: dea7da592f5d1d2b7755e3a161be07f43fad8f75
 runc version: v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
    Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.12.67-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 10
 Total Memory: 7.653GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: <ANONYMIZED_ID>
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=unix:///Users/<USER>/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

E718B606-AA7E-4C77-87AD-159C15CF32F5/20260205140514

Additional Info

Technical Evidence: Analysis of the process (PID 26237) confirms it is com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine, located within the system framework: /System/Library/Frameworks/Virtualization.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine

The process is managed by launchd. Since this is a native macOS system component being invoked by Docker Desktop, the corrupted display name "Dienst für virtuelle Maschine" is clearly being passed as a localized string by the Docker backend during instantiation.

This confirms a classic encoding mismatch (Mojibake) where a UTF-8 string is being misinterpreted as MacRoman within the Docker Desktop localization files or the service registration logic.

[skleiber]

I can confirm this issue has been around for many months.
In my notes i can see it was ok in 2024-09 ("Dienst für virtuelle Maschine für Docker").