When I start the program, I get a message that “The key is not bound to this machine” and the program stops.
All dongle/hardware lock (HWL) based versions of PLAXIS 2D/3D are treated as "V8i SELECTseries 10" according to Bentley's Support Policy. This means that Bentley will discontinue support for hardware lock based versions of PLAXIS after December 31, 2021. This includes PLAXIS 2D 2019 and older, and PLAXIS 3D 2018 and older.
To see the benefits of the latest versions and how to get the latest version, please see PLAXIS CONNECT Edition: upgrade from Hardware lock to Flexible licensing
The legacy PLAXIS 2D and PLAXIS 3D programs have two types of licences: the flexible and the standalone licence. The flexible licence is a concurrent user network licence, where the number of licences is the number of users who can access the program at the same time. If you only need to use the program on one computer however you can also go for our slightly cheaper option of the standalone licence. This licence can only be installed and used by one user on one computer.