PSConfig upgrade failure with special characters db credentials

[jokersplusone]

We're running into the following while trying to run autospinstaller on a SP 2019 box.
The box was previously setup and is working correctly, however the search feature was not installed. I'm trying to
get it installed by enabling search in the .xml and running autosp a second time.

We think the issue is with the password used to access the database, it has special characeters ie:
'a=XXXX,XXXXXX]XXXX.XXX{;', i think the '=' is the culprit. However all the self test worked and the systeem was setup using this password.

We're using database authentication instead of integrated Windows, because this is running on Azure and using a SQL Managed Instance.
The password pass the self test that autosp runs at start.
I've tried running the sp installer with diffeernt db credentials in the .xml file however it's the same problem.

I've tested this on a dev system and it works which is even more confusing
Stack Trace attached
sp_upgrade_log.txt

[brianlala]

Simply put, you're running too much of the script if all you're looking to do is provision Search. Try following the steps here for only running the specific function to set up Search: https://spinsiders.com/brianlala/2014/04/30/autospinstaller-for-specific-config-changes/

See if that helps get past the error.

[jokersplusone]

thanks will try, need to schedule it since i can only reproduce issue on a "production" system