MetaTrader5 initialize in Python timing out with 'IPC timeout'

[Kannan J]

I'm running Python from Anaconda shell to connect to Metatrader 5:

import MetaTrader5 as mt5
if mt5.initialize(path="C:/Program Files/MetaTrader 5/terminal64.exe", timeout=180000):
    print("connexion to MT5 is OK")
else :
    print("initialize() failed, error code =",mt5.last_error())
    quit()
    
authorized=mt5.login(login=account, server="Coinexx-Live", password=password) 

It opens the MT5 terminal and logs in but never gets a successful return value. It hangs for the timeout duration and then times out:

    failed to connect at account #935240, error code: (-10005, 'IPC timeout')

Why would this happen?