CREATE USING LINUX

This part is for users with a Linux computer.
You should have a file with a .tar extension. This file contains the OpenELEC installer files. We need to extract the files from the archive in order to use them.

Extracting using the GUI

There are two ways to do this: the easiest way is if you're running a desktop (Gnome, KDE, etc). If you are, just open the folder you downloaded the file, find the file, right-click on it and select 'Extract Files...'. This will create a new folder with the installer files in it.

Extracting using the CLI

If you're not running a desktop (or prefer the terminal), then you'll need to navigate to where the downloaded file is:

cd ~/Downloads

Then, extract the file. It will be named OpenELEC then something regarding the architecture and version, with the extension .tar. We need to use the tar utility to extract the files.

tar xvf OpenELEC-Generic.x86_64-4.0.3.tar

You should see a list of files - these are the contents of the archive as they're extracted.

Creating the USB boot/installation media

At this point, whether you've used a graphic application or tar to extract the files, you now need a terminal open. Navigate to where you've downloaded the files, then into the folder the extraction has created:

cd ~/Downloads/OpenELEC-Generic.x86_64-4.0.3/

Now, pop your USB flash drive in that you're going to use as your installation media and find out what device it is, after you've inserted the key you can find the device by executing the following commands

sudo fdisk -l

or

sudo parted -l

You should see your device listed as /dev/sdX, the X will vary depending on what you have connected to your computer it will change from time to time so always make sure!
Next we need to create the installation media. You'll need superuser privileges to do this, whether you use the root user or sudo. Either way, you need to execute the following command:
Note: This will wipe the USB drive! Be careful to not have any important information on it.

sudo ./create_livestick /dev/sdX

(For Gotham and Helix builds:  sudo ./create_installstick /dev/sdX )

Where /dev/sdX is the device you looked up earlier. It's extremely unlikely that your device will be /dev/sda as that's almost always the first hard disk in your computer.
You should then see something like the following on your screen:

#########################################################
#                                                       #
#             OpenELEC.tv USB Installer                 #
#                                                       #
#########################################################
#                                                       #
#     This will wipe any data off your chosen drive     #
# Please read the instructions and use very carefully.. #
#                                                       #
#########################################################
checking MD5 sum...
target/KERNEL: OK
target/SYSTEM: OK
writing new disklabel on /dev/sdb (remove any partition)...
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
4194304 bytes (4.2 MB) copied, 1.63624 s, 2.6 MB/s
create an partition on /dev/sdb...
make partition active...
tell kernel we have a new partitiontable...
make filesystem on /dev/sdb1...
mkfs.vfat 3.0.9 (31 Jan 2010)
install syslinux to /dev/sdb1...
mounting partition /dev/sdb1 to /tmp/usb_install...
finding UUID from /dev/sdb1 ...UUID=1CF6-F9AD
create bootloader...
copy files to /dev/sdb1...
syncing disk...
unmounting partition /dev/sdb1...
cleaning tempdir...
...ready

That's it, unplug the flash drive and connect it to the device you will be installing OpenELEC on.