Improved techniques are disclosed for accessing content in file systems, allowing file system clients to realize advantages of file system referrals even though a file access protocol used by the client is not specifically adapted for referral objects. (For example, the client may have a legacy file system protocol or a proprietary file system protocol which does not support referrals.) These advantages include a uniform name space view of content in a network file system, and an ability to locate content in a (nearly) seamless and transparent manner, even though the content may be dynamically moved from one location to another or replicated in different locations. A file system server returns a symbolic link in place of a referral, and an automated file mounting process on the client is leveraged to access the content using the link. Built-in crash recovery techniques of the file system client are leveraged to access moved content.