diff --git a/advanced/Scripts/utils.sh b/advanced/Scripts/utils.sh
index 37516472..a1178265 100755
--- a/advanced/Scripts/utils.sh
+++ b/advanced/Scripts/utils.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ addOrEditKeyValPair() {
 }
 
 #######################
-# Takes two arguments: file, and key.
+# Takes two arguments: file and key.
 # Adds a key to target file
 #
 # Example usage:
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ addKey(){
 }
 
 #######################
-# Takes two arguments: file, and key.
+# Takes two arguments: file and key.
 # Deletes a key or key/value pair from target file
 #
 # Example usage:
@@ -76,6 +76,24 @@ removeKey() {
   sed -i "/^${key}/d" "${file}"
 }
 
+#######################
+# Takes two arguments: file and key.
+# Returns the value of a given key from target file
+# - ignores all commented lines
+# - only returns the first value if multiple identical keys exist
+#
+#
+# Example usage:
+# getVal "/etc/pihole/setupVars.conf" "PIHOLE_DNS_1"
+#######################
+getVal() {
+  local file="${1}"
+  local key="${2}"
+  local value
+  value=$(sed -e '/^[[:blank:]]*#/d' "${file}" | grep "${key}" | awk -F "=" 'NR==1{printf$2}')
+  printf "%s" "$value"
+}
+
 
 #######################
 # returns FTL's current telnet API port based on the setting in /etc/pihole-FTL.conf
diff --git a/automated install/basic-install.sh b/automated install/basic-install.sh
index 05bc0e4e..a9398d90 100755
--- a/automated install/basic-install.sh	
+++ b/automated install/basic-install.sh	
@@ -2612,7 +2612,8 @@ main() {
 
         # Get the privacy level if it exists (default is 0)
         if [[ -f "${FTL_CONFIG_FILE}" ]]; then
-            PRIVACY_LEVEL=$(sed -ne 's/PRIVACYLEVEL=\(.*\)/\1/p' "${FTL_CONFIG_FILE}")
+            # use getVal from utils.sh to get PRIVACYLEVEL
+            PRIVACY_LEVEL=$(getVal "${FTL_CONFIG_FILE}" "PRIVACYLEVEL")
 
             # If no setting was found, default to 0
             PRIVACY_LEVEL="${PRIVACY_LEVEL:-0}"
diff --git a/test/test_any_utils.py b/test/test_any_utils.py
index 5b4075d9..6c920161 100644
--- a/test/test_any_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_any_utils.py
@@ -62,6 +62,22 @@ def test_key_removal_works(host):
     assert expected_stdout == output.stdout
 
 
+def test_get_value_works(host):
+    """Confirms getVal returns the correct value for a given key"""
+    output = host.run(
+        """
+    source /opt/pihole/utils.sh
+    echo "Somekey=xxx" >> /tmp/testfile
+    echo "#Testkey=1234" >> /tmp/testfile
+    echo "Testkey=5678" >> /tmp/testfile
+    echo "Testkey=abcd" >> /tmp/testfile
+    getVal "/tmp/testfile" "Testkey"
+    """
+    )
+    expected_stdout = "5678"
+    assert expected_stdout == output.stdout
+
+
 def test_getFTLAPIPort_default(host):
     """Confirms getFTLAPIPort returns the default API port"""
     output = host.run(