diff --git a/packages/devkit/src/utils/invoke-nx-generator.ts b/packages/devkit/src/utils/invoke-nx-generator.ts
index 249c16ed5670d..b55ddb63cc232 100644
--- a/packages/devkit/src/utils/invoke-nx-generator.ts
+++ b/packages/devkit/src/utils/invoke-nx-generator.ts
@@ -4,10 +4,13 @@ import type {
   Tree,
   TreeWriteOptions,
 } from '@nrwl/tao/src/shared/tree';
-import type {
+import {
   Generator,
   GeneratorCallback,
+  toNewFormat,
+  toOldFormatOrNull,
 } from '@nrwl/tao/src/shared/workspace';
+import { parseJson, serializeJson } from '@nrwl/tao/src/utils/json';
 import { join, relative } from 'path';
 
 class RunCallbackTask {
@@ -79,6 +82,8 @@ const actionToFileChangeMap = {
 };
 
 class DevkitTreeFromAngularDevkitTree implements Tree {
+  private configFileName: string;
+
   constructor(private tree, private _root: string) {}
 
   get root(): string {
@@ -144,9 +149,16 @@ class DevkitTreeFromAngularDevkitTree implements Tree {
   read(filePath: string): Buffer;
   read(filePath: string, encoding: BufferEncoding): string;
   read(filePath: string, encoding?: BufferEncoding) {
-    return encoding
+    const rawResult = encoding
       ? this.tree.read(filePath).toString(encoding)
       : this.tree.read(filePath);
+    if (isWorkspaceJsonChange(filePath)) {
+      const formatted = toNewFormat(
+        parseJson(Buffer.isBuffer(rawResult) ? rawResult.toString() : rawResult)
+      );
+      return encoding ? serializeJson(formatted) : serializeJson(formatted);
+    }
+    return rawResult;
   }
 
   rename(from: string, to: string): void {
@@ -162,6 +174,20 @@ class DevkitTreeFromAngularDevkitTree implements Tree {
       this.warnUnsupportedFilePermissionsChange(filePath, options.mode);
     }
 
+    if (isWorkspaceJsonChange(filePath)) {
+      const w = parseJson(content.toString());
+      for (const [project, configuration] of Object.entries(w.projects)) {
+        if (typeof configuration === 'string') {
+          w.projects[project] = parseJson(
+            this.tree.read(`${configuration}/project.json`)
+          );
+          w.projects[project].configFilePath = `${configuration}/project.json`;
+        }
+      }
+      const formatted = toOldFormatOrNull(w);
+      content = serializeJson(formatted ? formatted : w);
+    }
+
     if (this.tree.exists(filePath)) {
       this.tree.overwrite(filePath, content);
     } else {
@@ -183,3 +209,12 @@ class DevkitTreeFromAngularDevkitTree implements Tree {
     );
   }
 }
+
+function isWorkspaceJsonChange(path) {
+  return (
+    path === 'workspace.json' ||
+    path === '/workspace.json' ||
+    path === 'angular.json' ||
+    path === '/angular.json'
+  );
+}
diff --git a/packages/tao/src/commands/ngcli-adapter.ts b/packages/tao/src/commands/ngcli-adapter.ts
index 6e9f74d6dc6dd..9f4132109ae95 100644
--- a/packages/tao/src/commands/ngcli-adapter.ts
+++ b/packages/tao/src/commands/ngcli-adapter.ts
@@ -279,11 +279,7 @@ export class NxScopedHost extends virtualFs.ScopedHost<any> {
       .toPromise();
   }
 
-  protected context(path: string): Observable<{
-    isWorkspaceConfig: boolean;
-    actualConfigFileName: any;
-    isNewFormat: boolean;
-  }> {
+  protected context(path: string): Observable<ChangeContext> {
     if (isWorkspaceConfigPath(path)) {
       return super.exists('/angular.json' as any).pipe(
         switchMap((isAngularJson) => {
@@ -319,60 +315,67 @@ export class NxScopedHost extends virtualFs.ScopedHost<any> {
     }
   }
 
-  private writeWorkspaceConfiguration(context, content): Observable<void> {
+  private writeWorkspaceConfiguration(
+    context: ChangeContext,
+    content
+  ): Observable<void> {
     const config = parseJson(Buffer.from(content).toString());
     if (context.isNewFormat) {
       try {
         const w = parseJson(Buffer.from(content).toString());
         const formatted = toNewFormatOrNull(w);
         if (formatted) {
-          return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(
-            context.actualConfigFileName,
-            formatted
-          );
+          return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(context, formatted);
         } else {
-          return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(
-            context.actualConfigFileName,
-            config
-          );
+          return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(context, config);
         }
       } catch (e) {
-        return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(
-          context.actualConfigFileName,
-          config
-        );
+        return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(context, config);
       }
     } else {
-      return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(
-        context.actualConfigFileName,
-        config
-      );
+      return this.writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(context, config);
     }
   }
 
-  private writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(workspaceFileName, config) {
+  private writeWorkspaceConfigFiles(
+    { actualConfigFileName: workspaceFileName, isNewFormat }: ChangeContext,
+    config
+  ) {
     // copy to avoid removing inlined config files.
+    let writeObservable: Observable<void>;
     const configToWrite = {
       ...config,
       projects: { ...config.projects },
     };
-
-    Object.entries(configToWrite.projects as Record<string, any>).forEach(
-      ([project, projectConfig]) => {
-        if (projectConfig.configFilePath) {
-          // project was read from a project.json file
-          const configPath = projectConfig.configFilePath;
-          const fileConfigObject = { ...projectConfig };
-          delete fileConfigObject.configFilePath; // remove the configFilePath before writing
-          super.write(configPath, Buffer.from(serializeJson(fileConfigObject))); // write back to the project.json file
-          configToWrite.projects[project] = normalize(dirname(configPath)); // update the config object to point to the written file.
+    const projects: [string, any][] = Object.entries(configToWrite.projects);
+    for (const [project, projectConfig] of projects) {
+      if (projectConfig.configFilePath) {
+        if (!isNewFormat) {
+          throw new Error(
+            'Attempted to write standalone project configuration into a v1 workspace'
+          );
         }
+        // project was read from a project.json file
+        const configPath = projectConfig.configFilePath;
+        const fileConfigObject = { ...projectConfig };
+        delete fileConfigObject.configFilePath; // remove the configFilePath before writing
+        const projectJsonWrite = super.write(
+          configPath,
+          Buffer.from(serializeJson(fileConfigObject))
+        ); // write back to the project.json file
+        writeObservable = writeObservable
+          ? concat(writeObservable, projectJsonWrite)
+          : projectJsonWrite;
+        configToWrite.projects[project] = normalize(dirname(configPath)); // update the config object to point to the written file.
       }
-    );
-    return super.write(
+    }
+    const workspaceJsonWrite = super.write(
       workspaceFileName,
       Buffer.from(serializeJson(configToWrite))
     );
+    return writeObservable
+      ? concat(writeObservable, workspaceJsonWrite)
+      : workspaceJsonWrite;
   }
 
   protected resolveInlineProjectConfigurations(config: {
@@ -419,6 +422,12 @@ export class NxScopedHost extends virtualFs.ScopedHost<any> {
   }
 }
 
+type ChangeContext = {
+  isWorkspaceConfig: boolean;
+  actualConfigFileName: any;
+  isNewFormat: boolean;
+};
+
 /**
  * This host contains the workaround needed to run Angular migrations
  */
diff --git a/packages/tao/src/shared/workspace.ts b/packages/tao/src/shared/workspace.ts
index 0be6409e27d60..16fcc7caf5e24 100644
--- a/packages/tao/src/shared/workspace.ts
+++ b/packages/tao/src/shared/workspace.ts
@@ -572,9 +572,12 @@ export function toOldFormatOrNull(w: any) {
 
 export function resolveOldFormatWithInlineProjects(
   w: any,
-  root: string = appRootPath
+  root: string = appRootPath,
+  includeConfigFilePath = false
 ) {
-  return toOldFormatOrNull(inlineProjectConfigurations(w, root));
+  const inlined = inlineProjectConfigurations(w, root, includeConfigFilePath);
+  const formatted = toOldFormatOrNull(inlined);
+  return formatted ? formatted : inlined;
 }
 
 export function resolveNewFormatWithInlineProjects(
@@ -586,13 +589,17 @@ export function resolveNewFormatWithInlineProjects(
 
 export function inlineProjectConfigurations(
   w: any,
-  root: string = appRootPath
+  root: string = appRootPath,
+  includeConfigFilePath = false
 ) {
   Object.entries(w.projects || {}).forEach(
     ([project, config]: [string, any]) => {
       if (typeof config === 'string') {
         const configFilePath = path.join(root, config, 'project.json');
         const fileConfig = readJsonFile(configFilePath);
+        if (includeConfigFilePath) {
+          fileConfig.configFilePath = configFilePath;
+        }
         w.projects[project] = fileConfig;
       }
     }