Originally posted by Stoke:

under known issues they say the save are stored here yet this directory does not exist on my machine. C:\Users\ <username \AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim This makes no sense

Make sure that your hidden folders are visible. Search for this in control panel. Then you should see the folders. The folder definitely exists. I've been backing it up manually for the entire duration of my playthrough.

Also, probably a super dumb suggestion but did you replace <username> with your actual username on your machine?