diff --git a/misc/build.func b/misc/build.func
index b66a0786b..3ac18cd88 100644
--- a/misc/build.func
+++ b/misc/build.func
@@ -792,7 +792,7 @@ advanced_settings() {
   case "$SSH_KEY_MODE" in
   found)
     SEL=$(whiptail --backtitle "[dev] Proxmox VE Helper Scripts" --title "SELECT HOST KEYS" \
-      --checklist "Select one or more keys to import:" 20 20 10 "${CHOICES[@]}" 3>&1 1>&2 2>&3) || exit_script
+      --checklist "Select one or more keys to import:" 20 140 10 "${CHOICES[@]}" 3>&1 1>&2 2>&3) || exit_script
     for tag in $SEL; do
       tag="${tag%\"}"
       tag="${tag#\"}"
@@ -1203,26 +1203,29 @@ _sanitize_value() {
 
 # Map-Parser: read var_* from file into _VARS_IN associative array
 declare -A _VARS_IN
-_load_vars_file_to_map() {
+_load_vars_file() {
   local file="$1"
-  _VARS_IN=()
-  [[ -f "$file" ]] || return 0
-  local line
-  while IFS= read -r line || [[ -n "$line" ]]; do
+  [ -f "$file" ] || return 0
+  msg_info "Loading defaults from ${file}"
+  local line key val
+  while IFS= read -r line || [ -n "$line" ]; do
     line="${line#"${line%%[![:space:]]*}"}"
     line="${line%"${line##*[![:space:]]}"}"
-    [[ -z "$line" || "$line" == \#* ]] && continue
-    if [[ "$line" =~ ^([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*)=(.*)$ ]]; then
-      local k="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-      local v="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
-      [[ "$k" == var_* ]] || continue
-      _is_whitelisted_key "$k" || continue
-      # strip Quotes
-      if [[ "$v" =~ ^\"(.*)\"$ ]]; then v="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"; fi
-      if [[ "$v" =~ ^\'(.*)\'$ ]]; then v="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"; fi
-      _VARS_IN["$k"]="$v"
-    fi
+    [ -z "$line" ] && continue
+    case "$line" in
+    \#*) continue ;;
+    esac
+    key=$(printf "%s" "$line" | cut -d= -f1)
+    val=$(printf "%s" "$line" | cut -d= -f2-)
+    case "$key" in
+    var_*)
+      if _is_whitelisted_key "$key"; then
+        [ -z "${!key+x}" ] && export "$key=$val"
+      fi
+      ;;
+    esac
   done <"$file"
+  msg_ok "Loaded ${file}"
 }
 
 # Diff function for two var_* files -> produces human-readable diff list for $1 (old) vs $2 (new)