diff --git a/otelcollector/main/main.go b/otelcollector/main/main.go
index 6c6daee73..099d4e530 100644
--- a/otelcollector/main/main.go
+++ b/otelcollector/main/main.go
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ func main() {
 	shared.WaitForTokenAdapter(ccpMetricsEnabled)
 
 	if ccpMetricsEnabled != "true" {
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("ME_CONFIG_FILE", meConfigFile, true)
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("customResourceId", cluster, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("ME_CONFIG_FILE", meConfigFile, true, false)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("customResourceId", cluster, true, false)
 	} else {
 		os.Setenv("ME_CONFIG_FILE", meConfigFile)
 		os.Setenv("customResourceId", cluster)
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	trimmedRegion := strings.ToLower(strings.ReplaceAll(aksRegion, " ", ""))
 	if ccpMetricsEnabled != "true" {
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("customRegion", trimmedRegion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("customRegion", trimmedRegion, true, false)
 	} else {
 		os.Setenv("customRegion", trimmedRegion)
 	}
diff --git a/otelcollector/shared/configmap/ccp/configmapparserforccp.go b/otelcollector/shared/configmap/ccp/configmapparserforccp.go
index d60eac601..caf145eaa 100644
--- a/otelcollector/shared/configmap/ccp/configmapparserforccp.go
+++ b/otelcollector/shared/configmap/ccp/configmapparserforccp.go
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ func Configmapparserforccp() {
 			configVersion = configVersion[:10]
 		}
 		// Set the environment variable
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", configVersion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", configVersion, true, false)
 	}
 
 	// Set agent config file version
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func Configmapparserforccp() {
 			configSchemaVersion = configSchemaVersion[:10]
 		}
 		// Set the environment variable
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", configSchemaVersion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", configSchemaVersion, true, false)
 	}
 
 	// Parse the configmap to set the right environment variables for prometheus collector settings
@@ -65,11 +65,11 @@ func Configmapparserforccp() {
 
 	prometheusCcpConfigMerger()
 
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_INVALID_CUSTOM_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "false", true)
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("CONFIG_VALIDATOR_RUNNING_IN_AGENT", "true", true)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_INVALID_CUSTOM_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "false", true, false)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("CONFIG_VALIDATOR_RUNNING_IN_AGENT", "true", true, false)
 
 	// No need to merge custom prometheus config, only merging in the default configs
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true, false)
 	shared.StartCommandAndWait("/opt/promconfigvalidator", "--config", "/opt/defaultsMergedConfig.yml", "--output", "/opt/ccp-collector-config-with-defaults.yml", "--otelTemplate", "/opt/microsoft/otelcollector/ccp-collector-config-template.yml")
 	if !shared.Exists("/opt/ccp-collector-config-with-defaults.yml") {
 		fmt.Printf("prom-config-validator::Prometheus default scrape config validation failed. No scrape configs will be used")
diff --git a/otelcollector/shared/configmap/mp/configmapparser.go b/otelcollector/shared/configmap/mp/configmapparser.go
index d55b2f6d0..9c870e9e5 100644
--- a/otelcollector/shared/configmap/mp/configmapparser.go
+++ b/otelcollector/shared/configmap/mp/configmapparser.go
@@ -12,19 +12,19 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	defaultConfigSchemaVersion = "v1"
-	defaultConfigFileVersion = "ver1"
+	defaultConfigFileVersion   = "ver1"
 )
 
 func setConfigSchemaVersionEnv() {
 	fileInfo, err := os.Stat(schemaVersionFile)
 	if err != nil || fileInfo.Size() == 0 {
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", defaultConfigSchemaVersion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", defaultConfigSchemaVersion, true, false)
 		return
 	}
 	content, err := os.ReadFile(schemaVersionFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		shared.EchoError("Error reading schema version file:" + err.Error())
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", defaultConfigSchemaVersion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", defaultConfigSchemaVersion, true, false)
 		return
 	}
 	trimmedContent := strings.TrimSpace(string(content))
@@ -32,19 +32,19 @@ func setConfigSchemaVersionEnv() {
 	if len(configSchemaVersion) > 10 {
 		configSchemaVersion = configSchemaVersion[:10]
 	}
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", configSchemaVersion, true)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_SCHEMA_VERSION", configSchemaVersion, true, false)
 }
 
 func setConfigFileVersionEnv() {
 	fileInfo, err := os.Stat(configVersionFile)
 	if err != nil || fileInfo.Size() == 0 {
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", defaultConfigFileVersion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", defaultConfigFileVersion, true, false)
 		return
 	}
 	content, err := os.ReadFile(configVersionFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		shared.EchoError("Error reading config version file:" + err.Error())
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", defaultConfigFileVersion, true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", defaultConfigFileVersion, true, false)
 		return
 	}
 	trimmedContent := strings.TrimSpace(string(content))
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func setConfigFileVersionEnv() {
 	if len(configFileVersion) > 10 {
 		configFileVersion = configFileVersion[:10]
 	}
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", configFileVersion, true)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_AGENT_CFG_FILE_VERSION", configFileVersion, true, false)
 }
 
 func parseSettingsForPodAnnotations() {
@@ -61,10 +61,52 @@ func parseSettingsForPodAnnotations() {
 		fmt.Printf("%v\n", err)
 		return
 	}
-	handleEnvFileError(podAnnotationEnvVarPath)
+	handlePodAnnotationsFile(podAnnotationEnvVarPath)
 	shared.EchoSectionDivider("End Processing - parseSettingsForPodAnnotations")
 }
 
+func handlePodAnnotationsFile(filename string) {
+	// Check if the file exists
+	_, e := os.Stat(filename)
+	if os.IsNotExist(e) {
+		fmt.Printf("File does not exist: %s\n", filename)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Open the file for reading
+	file, err := os.Open(filename)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("Error opening file: %s\n", err)
+		return
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file)
+
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := scanner.Text()
+		index := strings.Index(line, "=")
+		if index == -1 {
+			fmt.Printf("Skipping invalid line: %s\n", line)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		key := line[:index]
+		value := line[index+1:]
+
+		if key == "AZMON_PROMETHEUS_POD_ANNOTATION_NAMESPACES_REGEX" {
+			shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value, false, true)
+		} else {
+			shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value, false, false)
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("Error reading file: %s\n", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func parsePrometheusCollectorConfig() {
 	shared.EchoSectionDivider("Start Processing - parsePrometheusCollectorConfig")
 	parseConfigAndSetEnvInFile()
@@ -116,8 +158,8 @@ func Configmapparser() {
 		prometheusConfigMerger(false)
 	}
 
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_INVALID_CUSTOM_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "false", true)
-	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("CONFIG_VALIDATOR_RUNNING_IN_AGENT", "true", true)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_INVALID_CUSTOM_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "false", true, false)
+	shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("CONFIG_VALIDATOR_RUNNING_IN_AGENT", "true", true, false)
 
 	// Running promconfigvalidator if promMergedConfig.yml exists
 	if shared.FileExists("/opt/promMergedConfig.yml") {
@@ -130,7 +172,7 @@ func Configmapparser() {
 			if err != nil {
 				fmt.Println("prom-config-validator::Prometheus custom config validation failed. The custom config will not be used")
 				fmt.Printf("Command execution failed: %v\n", err)
-				shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_INVALID_CUSTOM_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true)
+				shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_INVALID_CUSTOM_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true, false)
 				if shared.FileExists(mergedDefaultConfigPath) {
 					fmt.Println("prom-config-validator::Running validator on just default scrape configs")
 					shared.StartCommandAndWait("/opt/promconfigvalidator", "--config", mergedDefaultConfigPath, "--output", "/opt/collector-config-with-defaults.yml", "--otelTemplate", "/opt/microsoft/otelcollector/collector-config-template.yml")
@@ -140,7 +182,7 @@ func Configmapparser() {
 						shared.CopyFile("/opt/collector-config-with-defaults.yml", "/opt/microsoft/otelcollector/collector-config-default.yml")
 					}
 				}
-				shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true)
+				shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true, false)
 			}
 		}
 	} else if _, err := os.Stat(mergedDefaultConfigPath); err == nil {
@@ -153,11 +195,11 @@ func Configmapparser() {
 			fmt.Println("prom-config-validator::Prometheus default scrape config validation succeeded, using this as collector config")
 			shared.CopyFile("/opt/collector-config-with-defaults.yml", "/opt/microsoft/otelcollector/collector-config-default.yml")
 		}
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true, false)
 	} else {
 		// This else block is needed, when there is no custom config mounted as config map or default configs enabled
 		fmt.Println("prom-config-validator::No custom config via configmap or default scrape configs enabled.")
-		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true)
+		shared.SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("AZMON_USE_DEFAULT_PROMETHEUS_CONFIG", "true", true, false)
 	}
 
 	if _, err := os.Stat("/opt/microsoft/prom_config_validator_env_var"); err == nil {
diff --git a/otelcollector/shared/file_utilities.go b/otelcollector/shared/file_utilities.go
index 899b37ffc..25f666a71 100644
--- a/otelcollector/shared/file_utilities.go
+++ b/otelcollector/shared/file_utilities.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func SetEnvVarsFromFile(filename string) error {
 		key := parts[0]
 		value := parts[1]
 
-		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value, false)
+		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value, false, false)
 	}
 
 	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
diff --git a/otelcollector/shared/process_utilities.go b/otelcollector/shared/process_utilities.go
index b97efd5f6..6356e110f 100644
--- a/otelcollector/shared/process_utilities.go
+++ b/otelcollector/shared/process_utilities.go
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ func IsProcessRunning(processName string) bool {
 }
 
 // SetEnvAndSourceBashrc sets a key-value pair as an environment variable in the .bashrc file
-// and sources the file to apply changes immediately. If echo is true, it calls EchoVar.
-func SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value string, echo bool) error {
+// and sources the file to apply changes immediately. If echo is true, it calls EchoVar. If quotes is true, it add quotes around the value
+func SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value string, echo bool, quotes bool) error {
 	// Get user's home directory
 	homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -72,7 +72,11 @@ func SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(key, value string, echo bool) error {
 	defer file.Close()
 
 	// Write the export statement to the .bashrc file
-	_, err = fmt.Fprintf(file, "export %s=%s\n", key, value)
+	if quotes {
+		_, err = fmt.Fprintf(file, "export %s=\\\"%s\\\"\n", key, value)
+	} else {
+		_, err = fmt.Fprintf(file, "export %s=%s\n", key, value)
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write to .bashrc file: %v", err)
 	}
diff --git a/otelcollector/shared/proxy_settings.go b/otelcollector/shared/proxy_settings.go
index 7728b99e3..f38159347 100644
--- a/otelcollector/shared/proxy_settings.go
+++ b/otelcollector/shared/proxy_settings.go
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ func addNoProxy(target string) {
 	noProxy := os.Getenv("NO_PROXY")
 	noProxy = strings.TrimSpace(noProxy)
 	noProxy += "," + target
-	SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("NO_PROXY", noProxy, true)
-	SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("no_proxy", noProxy, true)
+	SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("NO_PROXY", noProxy, true, false)
+	SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("no_proxy", noProxy, true, false)
 }
 
 func setHTTPProxyEnabled() {
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func setHTTPProxyEnabled() {
 	if os.Getenv("HTTP_PROXY") != "" {
 		httpProxyEnabled = "true"
 	}
-	SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("HTTP_PROXY_ENABLED", httpProxyEnabled, true)
+	SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("HTTP_PROXY_ENABLED", httpProxyEnabled, true, false)
 }
 
 func ConfigureEnvironment() error {
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ func ConfigureEnvironment() error {
 	// Remove trailing '/' character from HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY
 	proxyVariables := []string{"http_proxy", "HTTP_PROXY", "https_proxy", "HTTPS_PROXY"}
 	for _, v := range proxyVariables {
-		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(v, removeTrailingSlash(os.Getenv(v)), true)
+		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc(v, removeTrailingSlash(os.Getenv(v)), true, false)
 	}
 
 	addNoProxy("ama-metrics-operator-targets.kube-system.svc.cluster.local")
@@ -92,11 +92,11 @@ func ConfigureEnvironment() error {
 		password := base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(strings.SplitN(urlParts[0], ":", 2)[1]))
 		os.WriteFile("/opt/microsoft/proxy_password", []byte(password), 0644)
 
-		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_MODE", "application", true)
-		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_ADDRESS", os.Getenv("HTTPS_PROXY"), true)
+		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_MODE", "application", true, false)
+		SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_ADDRESS", os.Getenv("HTTPS_PROXY"), true, false)
 		if user := strings.SplitN(urlParts[0], ":", 2)[0]; user != "" {
-			SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_USERNAME", user, true)
-			SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_PASSWORD_FILE", "/opt/microsoft/proxy_password", true)
+			SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_USERNAME", user, true, false)
+			SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("MDSD_PROXY_PASSWORD_FILE", "/opt/microsoft/proxy_password", true, false)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/otelcollector/shared/telemetry.go b/otelcollector/shared/telemetry.go
index 53896e766..d7d5382e4 100644
--- a/otelcollector/shared/telemetry.go
+++ b/otelcollector/shared/telemetry.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ func SetupTelemetry(customEnvironment string) {
 	}
 
 	// Export APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_AUTH
-	err := SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_AUTH", encodedAIKey, false)
+	err := SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_AUTH", encodedAIKey, false, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Println("Error setting APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_AUTH environment variable:", err)
 		return
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ func SetupTelemetry(customEnvironment string) {
 	}
 	aiKey = string(aiKeyBytes)
 
-	err = SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("TELEMETRY_APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_KEY", aiKey, false)
+	err = SetEnvAndSourceBashrc("TELEMETRY_APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_KEY", aiKey, false, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Println("Error setting TELEMETRY_APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_KEY environment variable:", err)
 		return