Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro doesn't Activate

I have a very good 8 years old Sony Vaio Laptop (Sandy Bridge i5, 8G of memory) with Win 7 Pro SLP license that was a gift from my nephew. It is activated.
I decided to upgrade it to Win 10 1909 pro. I cloned the disk, booted into Win 7 Pro and ran setup from a USB Win 10 installation disk.
It installed Win 10 Pro but did not Activate. It says that it found a Win 7 Home license and that I should install Win 10 Home.
The Laptop has a Win 7 Pro COA sticker on the back but the last 4 digits are damaged so I can't use it as a valid key.

Why it found a Win 7 Home license if it was upgraded from a activated Win 7 Pro?
How can I upgrade to Win 10 Home from a Win 7 Pro as Win 10 setup doesn't ask witch version I what to install?

Windows 7 OEM System Locked Preinstallation Activation - Windows 10 Installation Guides

Megahertz said:

It installed Win 10 Pro but did not Activate. It says that it found a Win 7 Home license and that I should install Win 10 Home.

Windows 10 will only update to the version you previously licensed - Home to Home, Pro to Pro, 32-32 bit. What the activation screen is telling you is that the license it's reading is for Home (not Pro), thus you can only activate the Home license.

With that, if you have the Pro license, you could use that to activate Windows 10 by going to the activation screen and supplying / changing to the Pro license number.

A perhaps useful note to sit alongside @bro67's very informative post:

1. Why are two different keys available ...? A) OEM SLP: This key comes pre-installed in Windows, when it comes from the Factory. This key is geared to work with the OEM Bios Flag found only on that Manufacturer's computer hardware. So when Windows was installed using the OEM SLP key (at the factory) Windows looks at the motherboard and sees the proper OEM Bios Flag (for that Manufacturer and that version of Windows) and Self-Activates. (that's why you did not need to Activate your computer after you brought it home)

B) COA SLP: This is the Product key that you see on the sticker on the side (or bottom) of your computer. It is a valid product key, but should only be used in limited situations (such as if the OEM SLP key stops self-activating for whatever reason). The key must be activated by Phone. (Note: All manufacturers that use the OEM SLP system are required by contract to include a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) sticker, that has a COA SLP key, on the computer)

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/what-is-different-between-oem-slp-and-oem-coa/31cac664-331a-4e0b-af8c-731105600eef

Superfly's Showkeyplus utility may show more.

Megahertz said:

I have a very good 8 years old Sony Vaio Laptop (Sandy Bridge i5, 8G of memory) with Win 7 Pro SLP license that was a gift from my nephew. It is activated.
I decided to upgrade it to Win 10 1909 pro. I cloned the disk, booted into Win 7 Pro and ran setup from a USB Win 10 installation disk.
It installed Win 10 Pro but did not Activate. It says that it found a Win 7 Home license and that I should install Win 10 Home.
The Laptop has a Win 7 Pro COA sticker on the back but the last 4 digits are damaged so I can't use it as a valid key.

Why it found a Win 7 Home license if it was upgraded from a activated Win 7 Pro?
How can I upgrade to Win 10 Home from a Win 7 Pro as Win 10 setup doesn't ask witch version I what to install?

For some reason the OEM SLP licences are not properly retrieved by Win 10 on some upgrades, I had to go through this process with someone on this forum - the only solution was to use a COA key.
The genuine ticket method may work as well - see here: Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First

The currently installed Win 7 OEM SLP key won't work on Win 10 as it's a generic. However if the COA key was installed that would be great - run the ShowKeyPlus Preview version to check - it should also give the Win 7 details under Upgrades.

PM me the legible parts of the COA sticker key and I'll try to re-engineer the rest to see if we can get the full key.

sygnus21 said:

Windows 10 will only update to the version you previously licensed - Home to Home, Pro to Pro, 32-32 bit. What the activation screen is telling you is that the license it's reading is for Home (not Pro), thus you can only activate the Home license.

With that, if you have the Pro license, you could use that to activate Windows 10 by going to the activation screen and supplying / changing to the Pro license number.

Megahertz said:

My windows 7 Pro is activated from factory so the upgrade to Win 10 should also find a pro version key

Yet it didn't, hence the suggestion. But again, if you have the Pro key you could use that.

And that link bro67 posted is a clear a mud so hopefully he understands what he posted it and can apply it to your issue.

Good luck.