Renames can be handled in an overlay optimizer to ensure that the rename operations do not fail due to source and target volumes being different. The overlay optimizer can implement a process for linking the two IRP_MJ_CREATE operations that the operating system sends as part of a rename operation. Due to this linking, the overlay optimizer can determine when the second IRP of a rename operation is being processed and can determine the source volume for the operation. When the source volume is the volume of the overlay cache, the overlay optimizer can redirect the second IRP. This will ensure that the rename operation will complete successfully even in cases where the rename operation was initiated without specifying the MOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED flag.