I broke the screen/digitizer on my Samsung S9. I believe the circuitry is intact and want to extract data, messages and pictures from off of the internal memory. Sometimes when I plug in the USB cord, the screen will partially work and show the charging level. Every time I plug in the cord when it's connected to my computer, it shows up in the explorer though I can't access anything because typically I have to unlock the phone using a pattern and because the screen/digitizer is broken I can't do that. Is there a way to put in the pattern to unlock the phone via Windows explorer?

Worst case scenario I figure I can have the screen/digitizer replaced although I'd rather just swap the SIM and SD card to my backup phone and use that.

There is a way, but I don't think you can set it up now that it is in this condition. Has to already be set up.

You will have to bite the bullet and get a screen for $80 and install it.

Look into the Android Debug Bridge. This is software that runs on a PC (Windows/Mac/Linux) that will provide file transfer between an Android device and a computer. It also gives one a command line interface to the device. There is an authorization step that has to be performed on the device, and I am not sure you can do this without a screen to look at, but maybe through the boot loader or other low-level run mode.

https://findmymobile.samsung.com

Find My Mobile
Lost your phone?
Don't panic. Find My Mobile will help you locate your phone or tablet and protect your data. You can even use it to unlock if you forget your pattern, PIN, or password.
*To use this service, you must be signed in to your Samsung account on your device.

so, yeah, you have to have it already loaded with this

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen, looks like I need to replace the digitizer. I suppose I should be thankful all the internals are still working.

Disregard...missed model number.