diff --git a/scripts/auth_init.ps1 b/scripts/auth_init.ps1
index cfea366..0acc59c 100644
--- a/scripts/auth_init.ps1
+++ b/scripts/auth_init.ps1
@@ -1,7 +1,18 @@
 . ./scripts/loadenv.ps1
 
-if (-not $env:AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED -or $env:AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED -eq "false") {
-  Write-Host "AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED is false. Exiting auth_init script."
+$appSampleEnabled = (Get-Content .\.azure\$env:AZURE_ENV_NAME\config.json | ConvertFrom-Json).infra.parameters.appSampleEnabled
+
+# Give preference to AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED environment variable
+if ($env:AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED) {
+  $effectiveValue = $env:AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED
+} else {
+  $effectiveValue = $appSampleEnabled
+}
+
+$effectiveValue = $effectiveValue.ToString().ToLower()
+
+if (-not $effectiveValue -or $effectiveValue -eq "false") {
+  Write-Host "App sample is disabled. Exiting auth_init script."
   exit
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/auth_init.sh b/scripts/auth_init.sh
index 813ce50..137e614 100755
--- a/scripts/auth_init.sh
+++ b/scripts/auth_init.sh
@@ -3,9 +3,19 @@
 # Load environment variables from a shell script
 . ./scripts/loadenv.sh
 
-# Check if AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED is not set or is "false"
-if [[ -z "$AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED" || "$AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED" == "false" ]]; then
-  echo "AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED is false. Exiting auth_init script."
+appSampleEnabled=$(./.venv/bin/python -c "import json; print(str(json.load(open('.azure/$AZURE_ENV_NAME/config.json'))['infra']['parameters']['appSampleEnabled']).lower())" 2>/dev/null || echo "false")
+
+# Give preference to AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED environment variable
+if [[ -n "$AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED" ]]; then
+  effectiveValue="${AZURE_APP_SAMPLE_ENABLED}"
+else
+  effectiveValue="$appSampleEnabled"
+fi
+
+effectiveValue=$(echo "$effectiveValue" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+
+if [[ -z "$effectiveValue" || "$effectiveValue" == "false" ]]; then
+  echo "App sample is disabled. Exiting auth_init script."
   exit 0
 fi