In one embodiment, in response to a request for searching a file stored in a first directory, a first lookup is performed by a virtual file system in a first file system to locate the file. The virtual file system traverses from the first directory back to a mount point of the first file system to recreate a search path from the mount point to the first directory. The virtual file system performs a second lookup in a second directory of a second file system that is associated with the mount point to locate the file in the second file system, where second directory is identified by the recreated search path.