diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha2/register.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha2/register.go
index f80e17bd67a..1a36910961f 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha2/register.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha2/register.go
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ func Resource(resource string) schema.GroupResource {
 
 func addKnownTypes(scheme *runtime.Scheme) error {
 	scheme.AddKnownTypes(SchemeGroupVersion,
-		&InitConfiguration{},
 		&NodeConfiguration{},
 	)
+	scheme.AddKnownTypeWithName(SchemeGroupVersion.WithKind("MasterConfiguration"), &InitConfiguration{})
 	metav1.AddToGroupVersion(scheme, SchemeGroupVersion)
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/config.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/config.go
index 3580694e0a1..fcf70fa2102 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/config.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/config.go
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	availableAPIObjects = []string{constants.InitConfigurationKind, constants.NodeConfigurationKind}
+	defaultAPIObjects   = []string{constants.InitConfigurationKind, constants.NodeConfigurationKind}
+	availableAPIObjects = []string{constants.InitConfigurationKind, constants.MasterConfigurationKind, constants.NodeConfigurationKind}
 	// sillyToken is only set statically to make kubeadm not randomize the token on every run
 	sillyToken = kubeadmapiv1alpha3.BootstrapToken{
 		Token: &kubeadmapiv1alpha3.BootstrapTokenString{
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ func NewCmdConfigPrintDefault(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 		`), sillyToken),
 		Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			if len(apiObjects) == 0 {
-				apiObjects = availableAPIObjects
+				apiObjects = defaultAPIObjects
 			}
 			allBytes := [][]byte{}
 			for _, apiObject := range apiObjects {
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ func getDefaultAPIObjectBytes(apiObject string) ([]byte, error) {
 	var internalcfg runtime.Object
 	var err error
 	switch apiObject {
-	case constants.InitConfigurationKind:
+	case constants.InitConfigurationKind, constants.MasterConfigurationKind:
 		internalcfg, err = configutil.ConfigFileAndDefaultsToInternalConfig("", &kubeadmapiv1alpha3.InitConfiguration{
 			API:               kubeadmapiv1alpha3.API{AdvertiseAddress: "1.2.3.4"},
 			BootstrapTokens:   []kubeadmapiv1alpha3.BootstrapToken{sillyToken},
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants/constants.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants/constants.go
index 16ef56e7575..96a67d0942c 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants/constants.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants/constants.go
@@ -289,6 +289,10 @@ const (
 	// InitConfigurationKind is the string kind value for the InitConfiguration struct
 	InitConfigurationKind = "InitConfiguration"
 
+	// MasterConfigurationKind is the string kind value for the v1alpha2-named MasterConfiguration struct
+	// In v1alpha3 and higher, this struct is now named InitConfiguration
+	MasterConfigurationKind = "MasterConfiguration"
+
 	// NodeConfigurationKind is the string kind value for the InitConfiguration struct
 	NodeConfigurationKind = "NodeConfiguration"
 
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/common.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/common.go
index 5ed571eb409..5e2a6a86df1 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/common.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/common.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ func AnyConfigFileAndDefaultsToInternal(cfgPath string) (runtime.Object, error)
 	}
 
 	// First, check if the gvk list has InitConfiguration and in that case try to unmarshal it
-	if kubeadmutil.GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(gvks) {
+	if kubeadmutil.GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(gvks...) {
 		return ConfigFileAndDefaultsToInternalConfig(cfgPath, &kubeadmapiv1alpha3.InitConfiguration{})
 	}
 	if kubeadmutil.GroupVersionKindsHasNodeConfiguration(gvks) {
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/masterconfig.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/masterconfig.go
index b9713e8f385..dbddb03f978 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/masterconfig.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/masterconfig.go
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ func BytesToInternalConfig(b []byte) (*kubeadmapi.InitConfiguration, error) {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if gvk.Kind == kubeadmconstants.InitConfigurationKind {
+		if kubeadmutil.GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(gvk) {
 			if err := runtime.DecodeInto(kubeadmscheme.Codecs.UniversalDecoder(), fileContent, internalcfg); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/conversion/master/v1alpha3.yaml b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/conversion/master/v1alpha3.yaml
index cc9952ed3b3..0c620507182 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/conversion/master/v1alpha3.yaml
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/conversion/master/v1alpha3.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ etcd:
     dataDir: /var/lib/etcd
     image: ""
 imageRepository: k8s.gcr.io
-kind: MasterConfiguration
+kind: InitConfiguration
 kubernetesVersion: v1.10.2
 networking:
   dnsDomain: cluster.local
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/defaulting/master/defaulted.yaml b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/defaulting/master/defaulted.yaml
index 98f35196a89..8633b690729 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/defaulting/master/defaulted.yaml
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/config/testdata/defaulting/master/defaulted.yaml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ etcd:
     dataDir: /var/lib/etcd
     image: ""
 imageRepository: my-company.com
-kind: MasterConfiguration
+kind: InitConfiguration
 kubernetesVersion: v1.10.2
 networking:
   dnsDomain: cluster.global
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal.go
index b66e3d655f4..23bf6552137 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal.go
@@ -148,8 +148,10 @@ func GroupVersionKindsHasKind(gvks []schema.GroupVersionKind, kind string) bool
 }
 
 // GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration returns whether the following gvk slice contains a InitConfiguration object
-func GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(gvks []schema.GroupVersionKind) bool {
-	return GroupVersionKindsHasKind(gvks, constants.InitConfigurationKind)
+func GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(gvks ...schema.GroupVersionKind) bool {
+	// Finding a MasterConfiguration kind is also okay, as it will decode and convert into an InitConfiguration struct eventually
+	// TODO: When we remove support for the v1alpha2 API, remove support for MasterConfiguration
+	return GroupVersionKindsHasKind(gvks, constants.InitConfigurationKind) || GroupVersionKindsHasKind(gvks, constants.MasterConfigurationKind)
 }
 
 // GroupVersionKindsHasNodeConfiguration returns whether the following gvk slice contains a NodeConfiguration object
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal_test.go
index d5737ce4732..8952f34cfe1 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/marshal_test.go
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ func TestGroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, rt := range tests {
 		t.Run(rt.name, func(t2 *testing.T) {
 
-			actual := GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(rt.gvks)
+			actual := GroupVersionKindsHasInitConfiguration(rt.gvks...)
 			if rt.expected != actual {
 				t2.Errorf("expected gvks has InitConfiguration: %t\n\tactual: %t\n", rt.expected, actual)
 			}