Why does the programming of MAX® 10 FPGA devices with density 10M02 fail with the message Error(209012): Operation failed?

Description

Due to a problem in the Quartus® Prime Programmer version 20.1 and later, you may see this error when programming a 10M02 MAX® 10 FPGA device with a POF or JAM/JBC file: 

Error(209012): Operation failed

Resolution

To work around this problem, use Quartus® Prime Programmer version 19.1 to program the 10M02 device and generate the JAM/JBC file.

This problem is fixed in the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software version 24.3 and the Quartus® Prime Standard Edition Software version 24.1.