Quartus Programmer (quartus_pgmw.exe) 15.1 build 185 Failure to Function on First Attempt

I usually do an auto detect (click the button) before trying to program any device. I've found that the enumeration of the JTAG chain is not often done correctly when starting the Programmer, so doing an Auto Detect (and choosing to overwrite the .cdf if asked) does the trick. If the auto detect asks you to choose a device, you don't necessarily have to choose your exact device because the device will get set correctly once you select your programming file.