Why does my usb have less space than it says?

Only a small portion of its total capacity is visible or usable - most likely it has a partition that is much smaller than the actual drive size. When creating a bootable Windows USB, the process usually involves deleting existing partitions and creating new ones, which can sometimes cause this discrepancy if not all partitions are properly deleted or reformatted.

Why does USB have less space than it says? You can use Diskpart (Command Line):

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator.
2. Type diskpart and press Enter.
3. Type list disk and press Enter (identify your USB drive by size).
4. Type select disk X (replace X with your USB drive letter).
5. Type clean and press Enter (this will erase all partitions and data).
6. Type create partion primary.
7. Type format fs=ntfs quick (or exFAT).
8. Type assign.
9. Type exit.

If the drive is genuinely smaller than the advertised size, or if the steps above don’t work to "Why does USB have less space than it says", it may be a fake drive or defective. In that case, consider replacing it with a verified, genuine product.