diff --git a/cmake/Gems.cmake b/cmake/Gems.cmake
index caa5b74c93..a90cf09639 100644
--- a/cmake/Gems.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Gems.cmake
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ function(ly_create_alias)
         if (NOT TARGET ${ly_create_alias_NAME})
             add_library(${ly_create_alias_NAME} ALIAS ${de_aliased_target_name})
         endif()
+        # Store off the arguments needed used ly_create_alias into a DIRECTORY property
+        # This will be used to re-create the calls in the generated CMakeLists.txt in the INSTALL step
+        string(REPLACE ";" " " create_alias_args "${ly_create_alias_NAME},${ly_create_alias_NAMESPACE},${ly_create_alias_TARGETS}")
+        set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY LY_CREATE_ALIAS_ARGUMENTS "${ly_create_alias_NAME},${ly_create_alias_NAMESPACE},${ly_create_alias_TARGETS}")
         return()
     endif()
 
@@ -75,6 +79,13 @@ function(ly_create_alias)
 
     # now add the final alias:
     add_library(${ly_create_alias_NAMESPACE}::${ly_create_alias_NAME} ALIAS ${ly_create_alias_NAME})
+
+    # Store off the arguments needed used ly_create_alias into a DIRECTORY property
+    # This will be used to re-create the calls in the generated CMakeLists.txt in the INSTALL step
+
+    # Replace the CMake list separator with a space to replicate the space separated TARGETS arguments
+    string(REPLACE ";" " " create_alias_args "${ly_create_alias_NAME},${ly_create_alias_NAMESPACE},${ly_create_alias_TARGETS}")
+    set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY LY_CREATE_ALIAS_ARGUMENTS "${create_alias_args}")
 endfunction()
 
 # ly_enable_gems
@@ -143,7 +154,7 @@ endfunction()
 function(ly_enable_gems_delayed)
     get_property(ly_delayed_enable_gems GLOBAL PROPERTY LY_DELAYED_ENABLE_GEMS)
     foreach(project_target_variant ${ly_delayed_enable_gems})
-        # we expect a colon seperated list of 
+        # we expect a colon separated list of
         # PROJECT_NAME,target_name,variant_name
         string(REPLACE "," ";" project_target_variant_list "${project_target_variant}")
         list(LENGTH project_target_variant_list project_target_variant_length)
@@ -152,7 +163,7 @@ function(ly_enable_gems_delayed)
         endif()
         
         if(NOT project_target_variant_length EQUAL 3)
-            message(FATAL_ERROR "Invalid specificaiton of gems, expected 'project','target','variant' and got ${project_target_variant}")
+            message(FATAL_ERROR "Invalid specification of gems, expected 'project','target','variant' and got ${project_target_variant}")
         endif()
 
         list(POP_BACK project_target_variant_list variant)
diff --git a/cmake/O3DEJson.cmake b/cmake/O3DEJson.cmake
index 5d748e9681..ab5f95bc8c 100644
--- a/cmake/O3DEJson.cmake
+++ b/cmake/O3DEJson.cmake
@@ -14,35 +14,42 @@ include_guard()
 set(LY_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS "" CACHE STRING "List of subdirectories to recurse into when running cmake against the engine's CMakeLists.txt")
 
 #! read_json_external_subdirs
-# Read the "external_subdirectories" array from a *.json file
-# External subdirectories are any folders with CMakeLists.txt in them
-# This could be regular subdirectories, Gems(contains an additional gem.json),
-# Restricted folders(contains an additional restricted.json), etc...
-#
-# \arg:output_external_subdirs name of output variable to store external subdirectories into
-# \arg:input_json_path path to the *.json file to load and read the external subdirectories from
-# \return: external subdirectories as is from the json file.
+#  Read the "external_subdirectories" array from a *.json file
+#  External subdirectories are any folders with CMakeLists.txt in them
+#  This could be regular subdirectories, Gems(contains an additional gem.json),
+#  Restricted folders(contains an additional restricted.json), etc...
+#  
+#  \arg:output_external_subdirs name of output variable to store external subdirectories into
+#  \arg:input_json_path path to the *.json file to load and read the external subdirectories from
+#  \return: external subdirectories as is from the json file.
 function(read_json_external_subdirs output_external_subdirs input_json_path)
+    o3de_read_json_array(json_array ${input_json_path} "external_subdirectories")
+    set(${output_external_subdirs} ${json_array} PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+#! read_json_array
+#  Reads the a json array field into a cmake list variable
+function(o3de_read_json_array read_output_array input_json_path array_key)
     file(READ ${input_json_path} manifest_json_data)
-    string(JSON external_subdirs_count ERROR_VARIABLE manifest_json_error
-        LENGTH ${manifest_json_data} "external_subdirectories")
+    string(JSON array_count ERROR_VARIABLE manifest_json_error
+        LENGTH ${manifest_json_data} ${array_key})
     if(manifest_json_error)
-        # There is "external_subdirectories" key, so theire are no subdirectories to read
+        # There is no key, return
         return()
     endif()
 
-    if(external_subdirs_count GREATER 0)
-        math(EXPR external_subdir_range "${external_subdirs_count}-1")
-        foreach(external_subdir_index RANGE ${external_subdir_range})
-            string(JSON external_subdir ERROR_VARIABLE manifest_json_error
-                GET ${manifest_json_data} "external_subdirectories" "${external_subdir_index}")
+    if(array_count GREATER 0)
+        math(EXPR array_range "${array_count}-1")
+        foreach(array_index RANGE ${array_range})
+            string(JSON array_element ERROR_VARIABLE manifest_json_error
+                GET ${manifest_json_data} ${array_key} "${array_index}")
             if(manifest_json_error)
-                message(FATAL_ERROR "Error reading field at index ${external_subdir_index} in \"external_subdirectories\" JSON array: ${manifest_json_error}")
+                message(FATAL_ERROR "Error reading field at index ${array_index} in \"${array_key}\" JSON array: ${manifest_json_error}")
             endif()
-            list(APPEND external_subdirs ${external_subdir})
+            list(APPEND array_elements ${array_element})
         endforeach()
     endif()
-    set(${output_external_subdirs} ${external_subdirs} PARENT_SCOPE)
+    set(${read_output_array} ${array_elements} PARENT_SCOPE)
 endfunction()
 
 function(o3de_read_json_key output_value input_json_path key)
diff --git a/cmake/Platform/Common/Install_common.cmake b/cmake/Platform/Common/Install_common.cmake
index 7bf71d7e01..27b8d83a9c 100644
--- a/cmake/Platform/Common/Install_common.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Platform/Common/Install_common.cmake
@@ -155,6 +155,25 @@ function(ly_setup_target ALIAS_TARGET_NAME)
     list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES INTERFACE_BUILD_DEPENDENCIES_PLACEHOLDER)
     string(REPLACE ";" "\n" INTERFACE_BUILD_DEPENDENCIES_PLACEHOLDER "${INTERFACE_BUILD_DEPENDENCIES_PLACEHOLDER}")
 
+    # Replicate the ly_create_alias() calls based on the SOURCE_DIR for each target that generates an installed CMakeLists.txt
+    string(JOIN "\n" create_alias_template
+        "if(NOT TARGET @ALIAS_NAME@)"
+        "   ly_create_alias(NAME @ALIAS_NAME@ NAMESPACE @ALIAS_NAMESPACE@ TARGETS @ALIAS_TARGETS@)"
+        "endif()"
+        ""
+    )
+    get_property(create_alias_commands_arg_list DIRECTORY ${absolute_target_source_dir} PROPERTY LY_CREATE_ALIAS_ARGUMENTS)
+    foreach(create_alias_single_command_arg_list ${create_alias_commands_arg_list})
+        # Split the ly_create_alias arguments back out based on commas
+        string(REPLACE "," ";" create_alias_single_command_arg_list "${create_alias_single_command_arg_list}")
+        list(POP_FRONT create_alias_single_command_arg_list ALIAS_NAME)
+        list(POP_FRONT create_alias_single_command_arg_list ALIAS_NAMESPACE)
+        # The rest of the list are the target dependencies
+        set(ALIAS_TARGETS ${create_alias_single_command_arg_list})
+        string(CONFIGURE "${create_alias_template}" create_alias_command @ONLY)
+        string(APPEND CREATE_ALIASES_PLACEHOLDER ${create_alias_command})
+    endforeach()
+
     # Since a CMakeLists.txt could contain multiple targets, we generate it in a folder per target
     configure_file(${LY_ROOT_FOLDER}/cmake/install/TargetCMakeLists.txt.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/install/${NAME_PLACEHOLDER}/CMakeLists.txt @ONLY)
     
@@ -225,14 +244,19 @@ function(ly_setup_cmake_install)
     )
 
     # Transform the LY_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS list into a json array
-    set(LY_INSTALL_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS "[]")
-    set(external_subdir_index "0")
+    set(indent "        ")
     foreach(external_subdir ${LY_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS})
-        math(EXPR external_subdir_index "${external_subdir_index} + 1")
         file(RELATIVE_PATH engine_rel_external_subdir ${LY_ROOT_FOLDER} ${external_subdir})
-        string(JSON LY_INSTALL_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS ERROR_VARIABLE external_subdir_error SET ${LY_INSTALL_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS}
-        ${external_subdir_index} "\"${engine_rel_external_subdir}\"")
+        list(APPEND relative_external_subdirs "\"${engine_rel_external_subdir}\"")
+    endforeach()
+    list(JOIN relative_external_subdirs ",\n${indent}" LY_INSTALL_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS)
+
+    # Read the "templates" key from the source engine.json
+    o3de_read_json_array(engine_templates ${LY_ROOT_FOLDER}/engine.json "templates")
+    foreach(template_path ${engine_templates})
+        list(APPEND relative_templates "\"${template_path}\"")
     endforeach()
+    list(JOIN relative_templates ",\n${indent}" LY_INSTALL_TEMPLATES)
 
     configure_file(${LY_ROOT_FOLDER}/cmake/install/engine.json.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/cmake/engine.json @ONLY)
 
diff --git a/cmake/cmake_files.cmake b/cmake/cmake_files.cmake
index b42d29c9c2..a1fd66a06d 100644
--- a/cmake/cmake_files.cmake
+++ b/cmake/cmake_files.cmake
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ set(FILES
     EngineJson.cmake
     FileUtil.cmake
     Findo3de.cmake
+    Gems.cmake
     GeneralSettings.cmake
     Install.cmake
     LyAutoGen.cmake
diff --git a/cmake/install/TargetCMakeLists.txt.in b/cmake/install/TargetCMakeLists.txt.in
index b2c8b9b6f6..06cd022898 100644
--- a/cmake/install/TargetCMakeLists.txt.in
+++ b/cmake/install/TargetCMakeLists.txt.in
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ ly_add_target(
 @RUNTIME_DEPENDENCIES_PLACEHOLDER@
 )
 
+@CREATE_ALIASES_PLACEHOLDER@
 set(configs @CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES@)
 foreach(config ${configs})
     include("@NAME_PLACEHOLDER@_${config}.cmake" OPTIONAL)
diff --git a/cmake/install/engine.json.in b/cmake/install/engine.json.in
index 1cfb1826ce..ce2e1be25c 100644
--- a/cmake/install/engine.json.in
+++ b/cmake/install/engine.json.in
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     "O3DEVersion": "@LY_VERSION_STRING@",
     "O3DECopyrightYear": @LY_VERSION_COPYRIGHT_YEAR@,
     "O3DEBuildNumber": @LY_VERSION_BUILD_NUMBER@,
-    "external_subdirectories": @LY_INSTALL_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS@,
+    "external_subdirectories": [@LY_INSTALL_EXTERNAL_SUBDIRS@],
     "projects": [@LY_INSTALL_PROJECTS@],
     "templates": [@LY_INSTALL_TEMPLATES@]
 }
diff --git a/scripts/o3de/o3de/engine_template.py b/scripts/o3de/o3de/engine_template.py
index f4d2b63cff..63dec3e765 100755
--- a/scripts/o3de/o3de/engine_template.py
+++ b/scripts/o3de/o3de/engine_template.py
@@ -1338,6 +1338,10 @@ def create_project(project_path: str,
     if template_name and not template_path:
         template_path = manifest.get_registered(template_name=template_name)
 
+    if not template_path:
+        logger.error(f'Could not find the template path using name {template_name}.\n'
+                     f'Has the engine been registered yet. It can be registered via the "o3de.py register --this-engine" command')
+        return 1
     if not os.path.isdir(template_path):
         logger.error(f'Could not find the template {template_name}=>{template_path}')
         return 1