Under Tools – Options – Projects and Solutions – General, there are options for both Always show solution and Show advanced build configurations.  Both options will affect the menu structure, changing which items appear or are enabled.  The Show advanced build configurations includes the Configuration Manager and the Solution Configurations and Solution Platforms combo boxes on the standard toolbar.

Under most conditions, these options will work; however, there are some exceptions. 

• Regardless of setting, the solution will still appear if you open a solution with multiple projects.
• Regardless of setting, Advanced build configurations will appear if you open a project or solution that has mixed platforms or mixed solution and project configurations, like Solution is set to Debug, but Project is set to Release.

Happy Visual Studio’ing!