diff --git a/generate-cookiecutter-products.groovy b/generate-cookiecutter-products.groovy
index 9d4b146..d4be6cc 100644
--- a/generate-cookiecutter-products.groovy
+++ b/generate-cookiecutter-products.groovy
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@
                 }
 
                 for (i in common.entries(smc)) {
-                    sh "sed -i 's,${i[0]}=.*,${i[0]}=${i[1]},' user_data"
+                    sh "sed -i 's,export ${i[0]}=.*,export ${i[0]}=\"${i[1]}\",' user_data"
                 }
 
                 // calculate netmask